Polished Gems 1: A Fated Meeting
by Slasher9485
Summary: A young mercenary named Tourmaline is about to go on a mission that will change his view of the world forever. The only question is it for the better, or for worse?
1. Chapter 1: A Fated Meeting

Polished Stones

Story #1: A Fated Meeting

There are two people in this world, those who care for others and those who are selfish. The selfish live longer and have only themselves to worry about, so it seems good to be selfish. Yet, it leaves a feeling of emptiness inside you. Unlike the ones who care, who feel like they have a purpose, that they can find solace in others. Those people choose to intentionally make their lives harder by assisting others and showing compassion for them, yet they always smile more than the selfish ones. Each side has it's ups and downs, so it's easy to just want one or the other. This vacillating feeling exists in the hearts of many, but not Tourmaline. When a soul is pushed to the limit and has never known true compassion, they lose the desire to care for others and do whatever they feel is necessary for survival. His life isn't an easy one, but it's a path that he chose and a path that he claims to stay true to till the day he dies. However, fate always finds a way to make a man sway.

It was a night like all others, the land covered in a black sheet as the gibbous moon and glistening stars supply a moderate amount of light for the beasts and men that gaze upon their brilliance. Though such views of beauty no longer affected Tourmaline, the constellations, the phases of the moon, all have grown as dull as a worn blade. Plus he had no time to star gaze, as he had a more important objective this night; to infiltrate the towns temple and steal an ancient relic. His contractor would pay him handsomely and it would allow him to take a small break before his next job.

"Seems to be an easy catch, huh Tourmaline?" A shadowy figure said, approaching Tourmaline from behind.

From the shadows of the forest, a tall lanky man appeared from the forest. His stern look on his face was complimented by his threatening walk. He looked down upon Tourmaline and simply stared at him, their eye's locking in a near eternal staring contest.

"To what do I owe the pleasure Topaz?" Tourmaline grimly replied.

The tall lanky figure approached the young and lean boy, brushing his long white hair away from his eye. He stared down at the grimacing teen, his dead green eyes staring directly into his muddy red eyes. He cracked a grin and crouched down next to Tourmaline.

"Just came to see if you could handle this on your own? Maybe could use your trusty partner to make this quick." Topaz said.

"Thanks for the offer but I can handle this on my own. Plus I don't feel like splitting the money." Tourmaline said.

"My, aren't we selfish?"

"What's so selfish about wanting a break, I've been on jobs for far too long. I need a rest. So after this, I'm going to take a break." Tourmaline declared.

Topaz looked at Tourmaline, somewhat surprised.

"Whaaaat? I thought you enjoyed this job. Why else do you have so many jobs?" He asked.

"You know that I only do this job because it's easy." Tourmaline said.

"Yeah, thanks to me." Topaz responded smugly.

"I barely ever ask for your help. You just show up to my missions and start killing people left and right. Most of my pay has to pay off the collateral damage you cause." Tourmaline shot back in an irritated tone.

"Heh heh, but it sure is fun to go wild every once and a while." Topaz said.

"I somewhat agree with you but the issue is that you don't do it once in a while. In fact you only take it easy every once and a while." Tourmaline said.

"Well I can't disagree with that."

Tourmaline rose up and started his way towards the town. The small town, surrounded by pine trees and snow was dead. No lights to be seen except for the ones twinkling in the heavens. Beyond this town was the temple he had to infiltrate.

"Leaving without a goodbye?" Topaz asked.

"I've wasted enough time here. Go do whatever Topaz, but stay out of my business this time." Tourmaline said.

"Oh come on, don't be like that. You might need me just yet. After all the temple guardian is quite a handful." Topaz said.

"I can handle whatever comes my way. Besides I don't have to fight him." Topaz responded, with a bored tone in his voice.

"I never said it was a he." Topaz said.

Tourmaline stopped. He let out a sigh and realized how much more complicated the mission could get now.

"Figures, I had to deal with some girl before I could get my rest." Tourmaline replied solemnly.

"Your Achilles heel. Though I will never understand why." Topaz said, his grin turning into a mild frown.

"It's just harder to kill women than men. So many other factors come into effect with them." Tourmaline said, trying to justify himself.

"Do you think that gives you some form of moral high ground?" Topaz asked.

"And who are you to lecture me on morals." Tourmaline replied.

"Once again, no argument. But I thought I taught you this; we are mercenaries, assassins. We kill for a quick buck and make other's lives miserable for our next meal. Our job isn't a kind one, but it benefits us, so things like a conscience can be detrimental to how we do our jobs. We cast aside our morals and strive to be what we are as a species: living weapons." Topaz explained, his two gems glistening in the moonlight.

Tourmaline just stood there, gazing at his pseudo mentor. He wanted to say that he was wrong, but it just made sense. They were crystal gems, the truest thing to them was their weapons, concealed in the stones embedded in their bodies. To deny his words is to deny his own purpose. As much as he wanted to say he was wrong, the young gem could only muster a "I know...but we still have emotions and thoughts."

"That is simply what separates us from the beasts we kill. It's survival of the fittest, we learn from our mistakes and better ourselves." Topaz elaborated.

"We just look back at our past-" Topaz's sentence was cut short by a sharp glare from Tourmaline, fury quickly building in his eyes.

"Oops, I said the "p" word again! I guess you're the exception here. You ignore your past mistakes and simply move on, never dawdling, never staying still, you just soldier on and for that you have my respect." Topaz admitted.

Before Tourmaline could say his response, Topaz got up and walked the opposite way, head for whatever his current home was.

"I'll let you handle this on your own. No surprises, no swooping in and messing things up a bit. It's all yours my friend." Topaz says, "Oh and remember, your rage is what will keep you on the path of the mercenary, keep that in mind when fighting the girl at the temple. She is far more skilled than she appears."

With that, Topaz leaped into the shadows of the forest, evaporating into darkness. Tourmaline grit his teeth and moved on to the town's temple.

"I need to find a way to get away from him." He thought to himself.

The inner walls of the sanctuary were quiet, the lights of the candles flickered and casted a plethora of shadows against the columns and walls. Ruby sat down and stared at the ceiling.

"Why do I have to do this?" Ruby thought to herself, "Barely anything ever happens around here, so why put me on guard duty?"

Ruby was a young girl, vibrant and full of life. She stroked her long red hair and shifted her eyes to a flickering candle.

"I understand the relic needs to be kept under wraps, but really? What are the odds that something will happen to it?" She thought to herself.

Suddenly, she heard a creak from above. Someone or something was on the roof. She quickly sprung up, ready to take care of whatever was trying to come in.

"I had to complain. Even in my head, the universe is still listening to prove me wrong." She thought to herself.

The creaking noise soon left the roof. Curious, she moved towards one of the temple's windows to see if whatever was up there dropped to the courtyard outside. She looked into the darkness, and found nothing.

"You're way too jumpy right now Ruby. Guess you want some action so bad you are imagining things." She contemplated.

But before she could get back to waiting around with her thoughts, she heard a window open and saw a shadow move into the temple.

"Erm. Halt! Who goes there?!" Ruby shouted.

"Really? That's what you're threatening line is?" She heard a male voice say, "That has to be the laziest line I've ever heard.".

"At least my lines are better than your stealth, so why don't you come out and say that to my face?" Ruby threatened.

With that, a young man walked into the light. He had short brown hair, green, weary eyes and a moderately threatening aura.

"Hmm, you're a lot prettier than I imagined." He said to her.

"I...what!? Get serious for a second!" She shouted, her face growing slightly red.

He slumped against a column and crossed his arms "Fine then, I assume you are the temple guardian." The boy proclaimed.

"Yep, the one and only Ruby." She proudly declared, "May I ask who you are now?".

"Name's Tourmaline." The mystery boy replied.

"I take it you are here for the relic aren't you?" Ruby assumed.

"Yeah, I got some people willing to pay big bucks for it. So if you would be so kind as to give it to me?" Tourmaline asked.

"You can't be serious."

"No but it was a good try. So how about this? Give me the relic now and I won't have to hurt you." Tourmaline said, in a threatening tone.

"No offense, but you aren't exactly threatening. Besides," Ruby's back glowed, as two swords materialized behind her. Their shape made it look like she just grew wings, becoming an angel of death. "you don't seem to have the skill to take me on either."

As she said this, his knees began to glow. Light enveloped his feet and formed a metallic shoe. On the front, a large blade sprung up and on the back, a curved blade materialized.

"Wait? You're a gem too?" Ruby asked, moderately puzzled.

"Yes because soooo many humans name their sons Tourmaline." Tourmaline responded sarcastically.

Ruby pouted, and said "Then why are you coming here? It's our duty to defend the land."

"I only follow my own path. I don't plan on protecting anything anytime soon. I'm here for myself, that's how it always was and that's how it always will be." Tourmaline replied.

She felt a sudden rush of anger towards the arrogant boy. Does he see himself being above their own customs? He can do what he wants? He can be such a jerk to her and get away with it?

"Where do you think that path is leading you?" She asked.

"To my next meal or next objective." He responded.

"So if I beat you here, what happens then?"

"Oh please, let's be realistic here sweetheart. I think I have a few decades of experience ahead of you." Tourmaline replied smugly.

Ruby frowned, flustered by the young boy's comment. Her face turning slightly red, she grit her teeth and barked a comeback.

"Well prove it then!" She said as she charged towards Tourmaline, swords in hand.

She swung the two swords together in a scissor like motion, attempting to cleave the pestering thief in two. The blades were about to connect to his abdomen, but he leaped up and landed on her swords. Dumbfounded by this, she had little time to react to his counterattack. She managed to barely block a sweeping kick from him, being knocked into a wall.

"Not bad, most people have their neck's sliced open before they can blink." Tourmaline gloated.

"Do you ever shut up?" Ruby mustered back.

With that, Tourmaline leaped towards the now recovered Ruby. He unleashed a spinning kick, but it was easily blocked and parried by Ruby. Quickly, he dodged the counter attack and leaped off the aggressive girl and gained some distance. However to his surprise, she was already right next to him and unleashed a flurry of slashes at him. Dodging swords wasn't anything new to him, but her style was far different than any other warrior he faced. He could barely keep up with her strikes.

"Man she's fast, can't seem to find an opening. Maybe I have underestimated her." Tourmaline thought to himself, "Wait, her slashes are wide, meaning there is a split second before she strikes me. I just need to get close."

As he thought this, he hit a wall. Pinned down he need to act fast.

"You're dead you crappy smart aleck!" Ruby yelled at him, as she prepared both her blades to strike.

"Now's my chance!" Tourmaline thought.

Quickly, he rushed into her. Their faces right next to each other, they just stared at each other for what felt like eons. Not squandering his chance, he swiftly got behind her and grabbed her waist. With a heave, he lifted her off the ground and delivered a severe suplex. The wooden planks underneath them splintered and broke due to the huge impact.

"Well that settles that, now onto the relic." Tourmaline thought to himself, as he swaggered along towards what appeared to be the relic. He reached into the dark box on the bench where Ruby was once sitting and pulled out a small idol.

"This the relic? Looks more like an antique than a mystical ite-".

Tourmaline's thought cut short as he sensed something being thrown at him. He turned around and barely dodged the spinning blade, it's tip slicing through his cheek. Before he could even comprehend what was going on, Ruby rushed him, slashing his chest, returning Tourmaline back to reality. He dodged the second one and managed to kick her away, slicing her arm open in the process.

"Your persistence is annoying." Tourmaline hissed at her, "Just stay down, you know you are not a match for me."

"Says the man with a huge gash in his chest." Ruby replied scornfully.

"This coming from the girl spitting out splinters." Tourmaline shot back.

"Shut it you no good thief!" She shouted as she got back to her feet, "Do you even know what that idol is here for? It's a deterrent, it makes gem beasts and other monsters stay away from this town. Do you even care about the people? What do you think will happen to them if you steal that!?"

"...and this is supposed to affect me." Tourmaline said morbidly.

She just stared at him, in utter disbelief of his resentment.

"So what if a few centibeetles or whatever come here. It would do the world good if some people got killed." He said.

"Wha...How could you even think that!? We are crystal gems! It's our duty to defend humans from these beasts! Does that mean nothing to you!?" She screamed at him.

"Humans...why should I care about humans?" He asked, Ruby's anger growing ever stronger, "Humans are nothing but cattle, moving on and on, breeding more and more until they will starve themselves out."

"How dare you!" She screamed, leaping to strike with her blades.

Tourmaline noticed her attack and parried, throwing her out through a window and into the snowy yard outside. Shards of glass and small droplets of red littered the pure white snow. Tourmaline leaped down in front of her, looking down upon her as so many did to him in his lifetime.

"You feel it? This feeling of helplessness, anger and hatred? This is what I felt all my life. Every passing human, looking down upon me, labeling me as a freak, beating me for their amusement. Why should I defend a race that scorns me for my very existence?" He asked solemnly.

Suddenly, Ruby's rage quieted. She simply stared at him in shock. She grew up in the streets for some of her early life. She knew of this kind of treatment, she saw how people can act towards others. But she met a man, a man whose kindness and gentle heart showed her the good side of humanity. She was stunned, never before has she met a person who has seen only the darkness of man.

"All my life, I have seen the evils of man. I've been hired to kill drug lords, leaders in human trafficking, mass murderers and warmongers, all to benefit some other human. They constantly kill each other, reproduce and kill each other once more. Many pointless wars, all in the name of proving who is superior. Human's are such...selfish creatures. They are only interested in themselves, killing off anything that they consider inferior and destroy the environments that this world has sprung to life just for their own benefit. They claim they are about compassion and that they care for each other, yet this is nothing but trite. The human race cannot live without conflict, and that is why I have forsaken them." Tourmaline said.

"I...I…" Ruby stuttered.

"Now you see the world for what it is...a shallow place where humans decide what is right and what is wrong." He said, walking towards the forest, "You will thank me for this."

"I...You're wrong!" She shouted at him. Curious, he turned around to see Ruby standing up in the snow, her fists clenched with an angry expression on her face.

"Humans aren't selfish! A human took me in when I had nothing. He protected me, he taught me everything, he treated me like his own daughter! I met other humans, they liked me. They became friends with me, and I became friends with them! I don't know what twisted world you lived in to see people as...those vile things you described, but people aren't like that!" She shouted at him, shaking with a renewed anger.

"Hmph, and what of this kindness? What has it brought you? A simple job, guarding this statue for eternity." He said as he held the idol up.

"I'm protecting that of my own free will, because I care about my people. All you care about is yourself!" She shouted.

Tourmaline stood there, silent. He looked down, his eyes shifting away from the young girl.

"Guess I was right...you're nothing but a selfish bastard. You don't care who you have to hurt as long as you can live comfortably right?" She said with disgust, "You're repulsive, you greedy monster."

"...I never said that I cared about myself." Tourmaline admitted.

Ruby's expression loosened up, her eyes filled with rage and disgust now slowly filled with empathy.

"I only live to show the world how selfish and corrupt it is. If I were to die tomorrow, I wouldn't care. My only purpose is to kill for other's benefits. Every child grows up believing in something, that they have hopes and dreams of becoming something great. The humans robbed me of my hopes and dreams, and left me as this empty husk." He said somberly.

"I...don't know what to say." Ruby responded timidly.

"Then don't speak, draw your weapon and come at me. Violence is the only thing I can truly understand."

Reluctantly, she grabbed her swords from out of the snow and dashed towards him. He dashed towards her and they began to exchange blow after blow, strike after strike. They moved about the snowy field in a flurry of slashes, spreading red and green blood over the battlefield. As this went on, Tourmaline was suffering more damage than his opponent.

"What is this? Am I slowing down? Am I showing mercy to her? Or perhaps I've finally lost the will to fight." He thought to himself.

With a swift kick, he slashed his foe across the chest, but it wasn't enough to stop her final strike. Her two blades crossing his flesh, he felt himself being knocked away as he flew through the air and slammed against a from blood loss and that final strike, he slumped down and gave up.

"So much for my break. Seems as though I've reached my end." He admitted to the now victorious Ruby.

She stood over him, swords in hand, covered in his blood and her own from various gashes and blisters. "Give me the idol." She demanded.

Wearily, he reached into his pocket and gave the idol back to her. She snatched from his hand and began to walk away.

"Hey...where do you think you are going?" He asked her.

"To return this to it's rightful place, you limp away and be miserable." She replied hatefully.

"Heh, you think I can return to my client like this? I've been disgraced. I've finally lost. I can't ever show myself again. So if you are such a paragon of kindness, why don't you do me a favor and finish me off?" He said.

She stopped immediately, her eyes widened as she turned back to see her defeated adversary, begging for death.

"What's the matter? You hate me don't you? So it would give you nothing but pleasure to just see me gone forever. You have the tools to do it and I'm not resisting, so do it." He said louder.

She began to walk towards him, one sword in hand.

"There you go, you see what this world has done to us? Crystal gems, killing each other for their own causes. It's our fault really, we let the humans corrupt us, follow their ways. I for one don't think I can stand it anymore, so end it for me. I'm done fighting and I'm done making others suffer for others' benefit." He said even louder.

She was standing above him, her hands shaking, he looked up to her, and saw pure rage in her eyes.

"Stop making me repeat myself, DO IT!" He shouted at her.

Raising the sword, she lifted it up and thrust it downwards. Tourmaline closed his eyes, accepting his fate. A loud thunk was heard, Tourmaline opened his eyes and saw Ruby's sword next to him, stuck in the ground next to him. He looked up at he and she immediately punched him in the face. Surprised by this, he looked upon her, shocked and not sure what is going on.

"Don't you beg for death...because it won't solve anything! Killing you won't do me any good. All it will do is make me feel terrible for having to kill my own kind. You say that humans are evil but they aren't. Sure there are some bad ones, but most of them care for each other. They help each other develop and become stronger. Even the selfish ones have others that care for them." She said.

As she finished her sentence, she dropped to her knees. She was on top of Tourmaline, her arms against the tree and looking straight into his eyes, their faces a mere few inches away from each other.

"Violence...won't solve anything." She said as her voice got weary, "Only...caring for...one another...can...end...hatred."

Ruby's head slumped against Tourmaline's chest, she was out cold from blood loss. If he wanted, he could simply take the idol and run. But for some reason...Tourmaline didn't run. He didn't decide to take the selfish path this one time. He simply sighed, and got up, carrying the unconscious Ruby back towards the temple.

"Now things get complicated." He uttered to himself.

Ruby awoke in on the temple alter. Her sudden rise led to a sharp pain in her abdomen. As she looked down, she saw that someone had treated her wounds. Being a gem she had the gift of an increased healing factor, but the pain was still there. She quickly turned to the chest and opened it with shaky hands. The idol was back in it's rightful place.

"What...did he put it back?" She thought to herself.

Without hesitation, she rose to her feet, cringing in pain. She walked as fast as she could to exit the temple, knowing she had to find him. She had to know why. As she opened the door leading outside, she saw a trail of footsteps in the snow…and some drops of green blood.

"No…that idiot didn't go off without treating his wounds!?" She thought.

Her walk turned into a light run, the sharp pain in her legs increasing even more. Still she followed the trail to what she assumed would be Tourmaline. After a trek through town, she found herself going in towards an alley with a large dumpster. As she walked forward, she heard wheezing. She crept closer and closer, following the steps to what appeared to be their end. She looked around the dumpster and instant horror rushed through her body. She found Tourmaline, but not as she hoped. He was leaning against the wall, new wounds that didn't bleed and eyes shut. She dropped to her knees in pure terror and let out a wail.

"..."

"What did you do, you idiot!? What did you do!? Act like the hero!? Do one final good deed for redemption!? WHY!?" She screamed, hitting the lifeless body's chest.

It was then that Tourmaline made a noise.

"Wha-What?" Ruby said, tears welling in her eyes.

"You don't have to shout...I'll explain later." Tourmaline said, exhausted.

She looked into his eyes once more, and embraced him. Sobbing softly, a rush of relief flowing through her, she carried him back to the temple.

Back at the temple, Ruby treated Tourmaline's wounds as he did for her. He was in far worse condition than she estimated. It's amazing that he survived, even if he was a gem. The two sat across from each other, eyes meeting. Tourmaline broke the silence.

"You don't have to worry about the idol anymore." He declared, "The man who hired me and any of his connections are dead. This place will remain safe now."

Her eyes widened. She wasn't sure what to say.

"Why…why would you do this for me?" She asked.

". . . I'm tired of it." He said, his voice growing more somber, "I'm tired of the bloodshed, the violence, seeing the hatred of man. I'm done being a mercenary, the fight last night made me realize how terrible I've been. I've lived this life for centuries, and not once have I questioned my role in life. Now, I see what others think. Compassion, empathy, all traits I never thought I would feel, now flowing into me. So I decided to go on one more killing spree, ensuring that I will never be hired again. Plus I had to repay you, for showing me mercy."

"So the idol is safe now?" She asked.

"Yes, I doubt anyone else would want to take it." He responded.

She let out a sigh of relief. The threat to her people was gone and now she could rest easy. As she felt this feeling of relief, Tourmaline got up and walked towards the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" She asked.

"I don't know, to see the world for what it really is I guess." he responded, "To find if kindness does exist elsewhere in this world."

He turned and slowly made his way to the door. Conflicted, Ruby held her hand to her chest and decided on what she wanted. If she let him leave, she may never see him again, but if she went with him, what would they do? She thought hard as she could for the small amount of time she had. As he opened the door, she stood up.

"Wait!" She shouted.

Tourmaline looked back at her, she was walking towards him.

"Let me come with you." She said.

"You…want to join me?" He said.

"Yes, I've decided that you need my help with this. I've seen all kinds of people, both good and bad, so I have more experience than you." She explained, now in front of him, looking up at his face. "Let me help you more."

"But…what about your temple?" He asked.

"You said it yourself, there is no threat to it now. In fact, you were the first person to try to attack the idol…ever." She admitted.

"So you just stood there for decades just waiting for something to happen?" He asked.

She blushed slightly, ". . . Shut up!".

"Alright then, we should be fine for a trip around the world." He said.

"Wait, I thought you said that you depended on this last job for a break?" She questioned.

"Yes, a break. I just wanted a break from the usual until my next job came along. I just accept jobs as requests come in. I could retire for the rest of my life with the money I've accumulated over the years." He proudly admitted.

Ruby just stood there, shocked at this new information.

"Is this guy for real?" She thought to herself.

The two gems opened the doors to the temple and walked outside together. Tourmaline looked towards the frozen sea and smiled.

"Hey, you can smile! It's kind of cute too." She teased.

"Hmph, I was about to say the same to you beautiful." He shot back.

Flustered, she turned away for a small second and looked back at him.

"So where are we going?" She asked.

"Lets try across the sea. See what adventures we can find in another land." He suggested.

"Sounds good to me, partner." She said gleefully as she lightly punched his arm.

"Huh, never really had a partner before." He said.

She smiled at him and he smiled back, and the two gems set off on their quest for adventure.

The room was splattered red and the smell of blood filled the air. Topaz walked silently, looking at the shredded corpses. He frowned to himself, refusing to believe what happened.

"I know you're still alive Tourmaline." He said to himself, "And I will not rest until I see you suffer."

He summoned his weapons, two sai made of gold topaz. He kicked a corpse of a middle-aged man up and stabbed 1,000 holes into it before it could hit the ground.

"A mercenary never turns on his boss. You have committed the ultimate crime and for that, you will die." He said aloud.

He walked out of the nightmarish room and onto the streets. He had a lot of work to do in order to track him down.

End of Story 1


	2. Chapter 2: Comrade

Chapter 2: Comrade

There was a soothing chill in the air as the cargo ship made it's way across the ocean. The soothing waves crashing against the massive boat as the sky shimmered with thousands of stars, twinkling above the vast, black sea. As the boat ran it's course, Tourmaline leaned against the railing and looked towards the sky. He didn't exactly know why, but the sight of bright stars always put him at ease. Was it because the gorgeous lights reminded him of the glowing stones of his fellow gems? Did they have some secret power over him, that influenced his emotions and eased his soul? He didn't know, and he didn't care. His trance was broken by the sound of footsteps clanking along the metal walkway. He turned his head to see it was Ruby.

"Something on your mind Tourmy?" She asked.

"Nothing really," he responded dryly, "and why do you insist on calling me that?"

"You have a long name man, considering that we are going to be together for a while, it'd be better if I gave you a nickname now than later." She shot back with a playful grin.

"...fair enough I suppose." He dulley responded, as he turned back to gaze upon the stars.

"Something on your mind Tourmy? You've been acting kind of weird since we got on this boat." She asked, concerned.

"It's nothing, I'm just bored."

"Ah, can't go off of the excitement of adventure until you make it to your destination huh?" Ruby said, moving closer to Tourmaline.

"Yeah, the journey has a pretty boring start to be honest." He said.

"Well it just makes the final destination all the more exciting once you make it there." She said with exuberance.

"Yeah." He said, cracking a small grin.

"There's a smile. So where is this ship heading again?" Ruby asked.

"Dunno. I just know it's heading east." He answered.

"...You didn't plan this out well did you?" She asked in a grim tone.

"No, whatever town we arrive in, I'll have access to my accounts, so we'll be fine there. I just wanted where we wind up to be a surprise for both of us." He explained.

Ruby moved in closer, now right next to Tourmaline, looking up at the stars with him. They dancing lights illuminating the black and void-like surface of the ever expanding sea.

"That's good to know." She said with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah." Tourmaline said as he moved away from the railing.

"Hmm? Where you going?" Ruby asked, curiously.

"I'm going to try this, "sleep", thing. Might be a better way to pass the time than just staring at the sea and sky." He responded.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot too I guess." She declared.

"Good-night Ruby." He said as he waved good-bye.

"Good-night." She said back.

As Tourmaline lied in his bunk, he began to toss and turn. Sleeping had been a idea at first. Just letting your mind go, shutting down and letting your body rest. It felt good, at first anyway. Then came dreams. Tourmaline has heard about dreams from humans. Episodic instances influenced by the human brain. As big of a prejudice he has had against the humans, he found dreams to be very interesting. Little did he know what kind of dreams he would have.

Images of cut up bodies, screaming humans, all memories of his bloodstained past, all coming back to haunt him. He was amongst a mob of his past victims, all wailing in pain, all wanting to know one thing from him; why. Why why why why why, that's all they shouted at him, each utterance of the word hurting Tourmaline more and more. Unable to stand it anymore, he summoned his weapons and began to cleave each corpse left and right, his rage building ever higher. With each past victim knocked down, he became more bloody, as they sprayed the red, brackish liquid on him. Soon, there was nothing. The only sound he could hear was his own heartbeat and breath. He looked down at his legs, to find them caked with blood. Then he saw what he had done. The already mutilated corpses now laid on the ground motionless, in bloody, mangled shreds of what was human flesh and bone. He looked at his hands, also stained red and shaking, and clasped them against his face.

"Hey." A voice said from behind him.

He immediately turned around, and saw him staring at a copy of himself. Completely clean and near motionless, he thought that he was staring into a mirror. This illusion was not to be true though, as he was still soaked in blood. Then the doppelganger asked one thing.

"Why do you run from your past? You'll feel better once you stop repressing it." It said with a twisted smile.

Tourmaline stood there, dumbfounded. With those words, he clenched his fists tightly, his entire body shaking with rage at the smug clone.

"You know it's true. You can't run from the rage building inside of you." The copy continued on, his face becoming more distorted as his smile grew ever wider.

"Shut up." Tourmaline uttered, clenching his teeth together, shaking with rage.

"Come on now, don't use that tone. It's been eating at you forever. Your victims, your "allies", all of them must cross your mind every now and then." The copy continued on, it's voice now becoming as twisted and unnatural as it's face.

"I said be quiet." Tourmaline said, barely containing his anger at this point.

"And of course we can't forget that euphoric and psychotic form you go through when you slaughter anyone foolish to dare fight yo-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Tourmaline shouted, his anger beyond the boiling point now.

"Oh, but you have so much fun when you enter that mind state. Your natural state that you continually deny is your true self." The copy said, now snickering slightly.

"THAT ISN'T ME!" Tourmaline shouted even louder than before, as he began to slowly advance upon the smiling demon that transformed before him.

"Oh come now, you know it's true. The raging beast that travels this globe, killing all who walk in it's path, to fuel your desire to find the gems that betrayed your precious-"

"SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH!" Tourmaline screamed as he began to run towards the demon.

Without a second thought, he leaped at the beast, slicing it in two with a mighty roundhouse kick. The top of the beast collapsed, as the lower body spurted an inky liquid, shooting out of it's abdomen like a geyser. Tourmaline panted as he collapsed to his knees, looking at the writhing body as it shot out the black substance. As he looked down, the head of the copy attached to the twisted, mangled and wriggling torso looked at him one last time.

"Do not deny your feelings Tourmaline. The more you contain this rage, the more it will eat away at your mind. Soon, only the beast that you dread to become will take over, and I will be all that will remain." It said seriously.

Before Tourmaline could respond. a large quartz crystal rose from the ground, skewering the copy's torso. Looking at him upside-down, the demon smiled widely, showing off it's gruesome teeth and blood shot eyes. Then it laughed a wicked laugh. It laughed and laughed and laughed as it's body began to fade. The crystal glowing ever brighter as the darkness around it faded away. Soon the body was no more, and this bright crystal was all that was keeping Tourmaline company now. He sat back, staring at it, awestruck. He didn't know what to think, until he saw a form inside of the crystal. It was of a long haired woman. She turned her head towards him, and pointed a finger towards him. In an instant, the light of the crystal was rushing towards him. He stared in horror as the light enveloped him, burning his body and gems down to the bone. He tried to scream but no sound could escape his throat. The woman exited the crystal, and approached Tourmaline. He was now kneeling, unable to move from the intense pain. He still couldn't see her through the blinding light, now rushing into his eyes, but he could hear her perfectly. She placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke to him in an angelic voice.

"I know it hurts, but it will be over soon. Let the light come and cleanse your past. Put this all to rest and let your mind be free from all of this." She said in a caring tone.

Before he could respond, she disappeared in a brilliant flash of light, the pain of the light enveloping him reaching it's peak as his head rolled back. He felt like his soul was being ripped apart, but he was feeling something underneath it. Something that felt repressed, something that wanted to be free. But before he could learn what it was, he woke up. Covered in sweat and gasping for air, he left the bed and stumbled into the restroom of the bunks room. He fell but managed to catch himself on the sink. As he hoisted himself up slowly, he looked into the mirror and saw that his eyes were bloodshot, similar to those of the distorted copy.

"*gasp* *gasp* No more sleep...ever." He gasped to himself.

As he looked at himself in the mirror, he heard his door open, and a jolt rushed up his spine as he looked at the figure in the door. It was Ruby.

"Tourmaline?" She asked in a concerned tone.

As she got closer to him, she noticed his stressed appearance. His hair was matted, his eyes were so bloodshot they looked like they were bleeding, the expression on his face was of pure terror and rage, and he was dripping with sweat.

"I...are you okay?" She asked, now a little scared for her friend.

"I'm...I'm fine." He responded, taking shallow breaths with each word he let out.

"Well, we're here now." She told him.

"Cool, and where's here?" He asked, now somewhat coherent.

She beckoned him to follow her to the deck.

"You tell me, I don't have a clue." She said modestly.

He followed the young gem out of the room and stepped into the morning sun. There was a frigid chill in the air, and there was a light layer of snow on the ships deck. He looked upon the port and saw a small industrial village. There was a light layer of snow covering everything, and even more snow was slowly falling down onto the town. He overheard some men speaking a language foreign to Ruby, but was all too familiar to him. As a traveling merc, it helped to learn as many languages as possible, and he had all the time in the world to do so.

"Hmm, looks like we're in Russia." He said calmly.

Ruby leaned against the railing near the docks as Tourmaline consulted one of the locals about where he could find a form of transportation. She looked up at the sky and saw the snowflakes falling ever so gracefully, much like the ones at her home. It felt good to look up at the sky and feel like she was in a familiar background once more. Though the place looked like her home, it was far from it, and she didn't understand why, but the place made her feel uneasy. But that feeling was immediately forgotten as she saw Tourmaline wave farewell to the friendly man and walked back to relay the information he received.

"So what's up? What are we gonna do?" She eagerly asked.

"There's a truck heading to a village out in the tundra, we can hitch a ride on there and go to see if there's anything worth doing over there." Tourmaline explained.

"What?" She whined in an exasperated tone, "Why can't we head to like Moscow or something to hang out and find a cool adventure?"

"Because there probably isn't anything gem-related to do over there. Moscow is a fairly compact city. If anything crazy went down there, everyone would know about it. Our best bet to find something cool would be out in the wilderness." Tourmaline explained further.

"Alright I guess that makes sense. Lead the way." She said as she left the railing to follow Tourmaline to this truck he talked about.

"Right this way." He said, as he turned around and began to move forward.

Ruby eagerly followed as she wished that they would find something really cool to do as they went to their chariot to a totally new world. Little would either of them know what kind of adventure they would end up having, and what strange things they would encounter along the way.

All was still upon the frozen tundra, covered by the shadows of a thousand clouds in the dull grey sky. No life could be seen, just a barren stretch of dirty white for what appeared to be miles. The only sound was the rumbling of the trucks engine as it went to it's destination. Tourmaline and Ruby were relaxing inside of the truck, staring at nothing as the truck rolled upon the icy road. They sat on the boxes that the truck was hauling, counting the seconds as they eagerly awaited to arrive at their destination.

"So what exactly is so special about this village? It's not polite to keep your partner in suspense for so long." Ruby said in a sarcastic tone.

"It's a plagued village. People are disappearing left and right, and the government refuses to step in and help. They say that wildlife isn't their issue." Tourmaline explained.

"So we're going on a safari? Bag a few wolves and brown bears?" Ruby asked.

"Not exactly. We're going on a hunt but for something else." Tourmaline responded.

Ruby moved in closer, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"The locals blame a monster on these disappearances. Locals are calling it the chuchunya. We're going to see if it's real."

With those words, Ruby's excitement drained away and was left with a sense of disappointment and dread.

"You mean we came all this way just for a stupid monster hunt?" She whined with an irritated tone.

"What, and you had a better idea of what to do?" He retorted, getting annoyed with her.

"I don't know, track something cooler down? Like the Jersey Devil, or sasquatch?" She said jokingly, "Why not leave this for television crews to deal with? Get some publicity out there."

"Because at the rate this is going, there isn't going to be a village left to interview. We need to take a look into this, see what's up." Tourmaline stated in a stern tone.

Ruby let out an annoyed sigh, crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

As the sky blackened and the stars twinkled, the two gems have arrived at their destination. The two exited the truck looking at the grief ridden villagers. A custom graveyard was made, crudely made crosses made out of branches littered the lot. There were at least 20 of these graves. Tourmaline approached a young boy, feeling a small sense of empathy for him.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where your leader is?" He asked.

The boy simply ran off and hugged what could only be his mother, his scared expression soon quelled by his would-be mother.

"I'm sorry, he's gone through quite a lot. His father was…" The woman said, choking back tears, "was killed a week back.".

"My sincere condolences." Ruby said.

"Thank you. You said you wanted to see the elder correct? Well he is-"

"Right here." An elderly old man said as he approached the group.

"What do you want from us?" He inquired.

Tourmaline looked at Ruby and gave her a quick grin. He turned his head towards the chief and began to talk to him.

"I am a friend of yours. My accomplice and I are traveling mercenaries, and we have heard that you have a little bit of a...problem." Tourmaline said smoothly.

"Accomplice?" Ruby thought sarcastically to herself.

"BAH! You have no idea what you are up against. This is no ordinary beast, it's claws are like scythes, it's tail is like a ball and chain, it's jaws are like a guillotine! No man or woman can kill that beast, it's impossible. Not even a god could defeat it." The elder spouted.

"God?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Yes, a god clad in blue tried to slay the beast, but it was too strong for her. She could only repel it from our village, but it still manages to steal away or kill one or two of our own. Her spirit is broken, and she blames herself for each life lost." He continued on, somberly.

Suddenly, a tall woman appeared from a small hut. She had a stern look on her face as her white-blue hair flowed in the gentle winter breeze. Ignoring Tourmaline, she focused on the elder.

"Don't belittle me old man, I am merely frustrated by that twisted thing escaping every time. It's a cowardly beast that flees at the slightest threat against it's life." She said in a thick Russian accent, "I will kill it soon enough."

"When is soon!? Most of the village has been wiped out by that monster! We must leave this land now!" The old man shouted, his anger dwindling down to sorrow, "I can't watch my people suffer anymore. Too many parents had to bury their kin."

"Which is why we will take care of this thing." Tourmaline said confidently.

"You, HA! You look like you couldn't kill a fawn." The mystery woman said mockingly.

"Says the loser that couldn't kill this beast because it 'runs away'." Tourmaline shot back.

The woman clenched her fists, her leather gloves tightening. "You best watch what you say you little brat." She said, angrily.

"And if you say this beast just runs away, why don't you pursue it? Or are you just as cowardly as it is?" Tourmaline said smugly.

"Shut it!" she shouted as she lunged towards Tourmaline. As she reached her hand back, a familiar blue glow radiated from it. This revelation almost shocked Tourmaline out of his focus, but he was trained to never break away. So quickly, he readied a kick to collide with her strike, his gem glowing as it enveloped his legs and feet, creating his weapon as it collided with hers.

A bright spark of light, followed by a loud clang as the two attacks collided with each other, shaking both of the fighters to their core. Tourmaline spinned back as his kick was sent back as the woman staggered back as her arm was flung back. The two of them just stared at each other as Tourmaline saw the newly formed weapon on her hands. Sapphire claws covered in barbs replaced her old gloves. A slice or stab from that would leave a lot more than a cut.

"So, you're a gem then." Tourmaline said, looking on at her.

"Yes, as are you." She replied. "And her?" She said looking at Ruby.

"Uh, yeah, I am. My name is Ruby." She answered.

"And I'm Tourmaline. And you might be?" He asked.

She relaxed her stance and put her weapon away. She stood up tall and walked up to Tourmaline.

"I am Sapphire." She said.

"So I take it, seeing how you are a crystal gem and all, we have some sort of gem beast to deal with." Ruby deduced.

"That's correct. A nasty beast if I do say so myself." Sapphire elaborated.

"Well lets see how this nasty beast can handle three crystal warriors!" Tourmaline boasted.

The awestruck elder then jumped in, still confused by the whole thing.

"Wait! So you're all gods?" He asked.

"No, we're just crystal gems. We fix problems in the world and defend humanity." Ruby said, "Though I don't know why you haven't explained that to them."

Sapphire shrugged, "Felt good being called a god.".

"Either way, you can kiss your monster problem good-bye." Tourmaline said.

"We shall wait for the beast to come to us. I've no idea where it dwells, and I shouldn't risk the rest of the villagers." Sapphire declared.

"Alright then. At night, we fight!" Tourmaline said.

Hours have passed, and the terror stricken people have all retired to their homes. Sapphire waited in the center of the village for her old would-be rival to appear once more. The gentle snow fell from the sky, lightly adding to the still growing blanket covering the village in perpetual white. This was the type of weather she lavished in, and her euphoria grew ever higher as she knew that tonight's the night where this white landscape shall now be stained by the blood of this beast. She quivered in anticipation.

"_If that kid is as strong as I think he is, then this should be easy._" Sapphire thought to herself.

With that, she heard the sound of snow being crushed underfoot. She quickly faced the direction of the sound, as it slowly approached her. Each tread making a loud thud as it moved towards her. That sound was all too familiar to her. The clouds above parted, and the gibbous moon shined it's transcendent rays upon a twisted, light-blue form. The beast stood upon two legs, much like a humanoid, it stood nine feet tall, with long, muscular arms that ended in large hands with curled, twisted claws. It stared at her with large, purple eyes with black pupils, sunken deep into a reptilian shaped head. At the sight of her, it opened it's wide, gaping, snake-like mouth, revealing an army of teeth that made daggers seem like butter knives in comparison. It let out a loud hiss as it slammed it's club-like tail on the ground, crunching the snow and pulverizing the ground with every hit.

"Well I'm happy to see you too, old friend." Sapphire said mockingly, "For this is the last time we meet under these circumstances."

She summoned her claws as she went into a fighting stance, starring the freak of nature down. The creature's hiss grew louder, sounding like a demented snake readying itself for a kill. The beast stared her down, it's mouth still slack like a basking shark's, as it stepped closer to her. As Sapphire took her first step, the lizardman tensed up, turning it's hiss into a bloodcurdling shriek and began to run to her on all fours. It's lower jaw scrapped snow into it's mighty maw, as Sapphire ran up to meet it. The beast lunged at her, readying it's jaws and claws to rip apart it's aggressor. In response, Sapphire slid under the beast, swinging her claws in an upward arc, slicing into the monster's scarred, muscular torso and abdomen. The beast landed perfectly, as it slide across the snow, leaving trails of it's mighty arms and legs, as well as a light trail of purple blood. The creature roared and slammed it's tail as it rose to it's full height.

"Fighting seriously already huh?" Sapphire gloated.

The beast taking offense to her words, rushed towards her, fists clenched and muscles flexed. It reached it's arm back and unleashed a massive punch, the very wind from it's strike sending the snow above and below the ground into a flurry. Sapphire dodged the first punch, but the beast acted quickly and spun, slamming it's rock-hard tail against her, sending her flying a few yards. She spun midair and landed in a crouching position, her arm feeling sore after that massive blow. The creature then looked at her and rushed once again, reeling it's arm back for a massive attack. She dodged the first attack, the creature spun once again, but this time Sapphire jumped above the nasty attack and sunk her claws into the creatures abdomen.

"Thought I would be dumb enough to fall for the same trick twice!?" She said as she twisted inside of the creature's stomach.

The monster screamed in pain and kicked her away, immediately holding it's stomach as the violet liquid oozed from it's innards. Fearing for it's life, the creature took this opportunity to run away, turning it's back and Sapphire and ran back towards the forest. Sapphire gave chase, but the beast was too fast.

"_No, it can't happen again! Where is that stupid Tourmaline and Ruby?_" She thought to herself, as her frustration grew.

The creature leaped to escape into the trees, but suddenly a shadow bounded through the forest and collided with the creature in midair. Out of the darkness revealed Tourmaline, delivering a massive kick to the creature's face. As it flew backwards, Ruby appeared from the underbrush. Summoning her two weapons, she threw the twin blades as the creature, as the sliced into the creatures arms. She beamed them back to her, leaving two deep cuts in the creature's arms.

"You rang, comrade?" Tourmaline said in an upbeat tone.

"I didn't call out for you, and what's with the comrade? We don't all say that you know." Sapphire replied in an annoyed tone.

"Either way, here we are." Ruby said.

The creature painfully rose up, it's body littered with cuts, welts and bruises. It looked at the two young gems, then back to Sapphire. Then again, and again, and again, it's breathing growing heavier, each breath masking an increasing growl.

"Iiis, he okay?" Ruby asked.

"Seems like he's panicking, and I personally don't blame him." Sapphire replied.

"Careful, you never know what a cornered beast might do." Tourmaline said.

Suddenly, the creature flexed its muscles, crossing it's arms against him, and it posed as it let out a roar louder than any other before it. It's arms and legs swelled in size, pumping out blood as they grew. Once it's roar was over, the monster nearly doubled in size, it's purple-black eyes now cracked red as they became bloodshot.

"Like that. It might do something like that." Tourmaline said, shocked.

"Holy crap that thing got huge!" Ruby replied in amazement.

"Well then, that's a new trick. Wonder why it never did that in the first place." Sapphire said.

"Maybe it's because it never had to. After all, it does manage to get a kill in every now and then, even with you around." Tourmaline said.

The creature then faced the two young gems, it's club-like tail now tripled in size, revealing a violet stone inside. The creature let out another roar as it rushed at the two gems. It rushed in-between them, and quickly turned around, pouncing at them as it performed a double lariat, knocking the two gems over. The beast then turned and raised it's arms to the sky, and sent them crashing down. Tourmaline and Ruby managed to dodge the pulverizing blows, but the aftershock sent them flying a few feet.

"I guess that confirms our suspicion of a gem-beast, but what the hell is it!?" Tourmaline shouted.

"I think it's a frozilla! An ancient reptile from the ice age. They survived extinction through the help of the gems, and they dominated most food chains for a while. The gems of old supposedly wiped out the entire species, but I guess that wasn't the case!" Ruby explained.

"How do you know this!?" Sapphire asked as she rushed towards them.

"I have an ancient bestiary of these gem-things. A gift from a friend." Ruby explained.

Sapphire leaped onto the beast and started stabbing it's back, splashes of blood escaping with each jab, "You should lend me it sometime!" Sapphire shouted.

The beast bucked and tried to reach her, hoping to crush her with it's newfound strength. Tourmaline jumped in front of the distracted beast and began to slash away with a barrage of kicks. The creature screamed in agony and rage as it grabbed Tourmaline and slammed Sapphire in the back with his tail. Sapphire let out an exclamation of pain as she fell of the beast, writhing in her suffering. The creature opened its gaping maw as it prepared to bite Tourmaline's head off. Quickly, Ruby sprang into action, leaping into the air, and slicing into one of the creatures arms. It roared once again and let Tourmaline go, readying to swat Ruby away like a fly. Before it could strike her down, Tourmaline grabbed her and leaped away to Sapphire, now recovered from her injury.

"Our attacks aren't doing anything to it! It just keeps going like it just had a prick in it's skin." Sapphire complained.

"It's all that muscle, it's shielding all the good parts." Ruby explained.

"Everything except the head and tail. Their the same, bar the tail's huge ball." Tourmaline added.

"So what should we do?" Sapphire asked.

"Hmm, I have an idea." Tourmaline said.

"Care to elaborate?" Ruby asked.

"Just focus on cutting the tail off, and make sure to get most of it." Tourmaline said.

Before they could ask why, Tourmaline rushed towards the enraged dinosaurian monster. He leaped behind it, and the creature turned to face the cocky gem. He delivered a few quick kicks to it's open wounds to enrage it, and the beast began it's assault. It swung punch after punch, missing every hit, growing more and more frustrated. As it marched on with each attack, Ruby ran from behind, her eyes focused on the swinging tail, and the bounding ball of bone, gem and flesh. As he dodged the attacks, Tourmaline tripped over a tree root and fell on his back, looking up at the colossal, prehistoric figure of muscle and bone. It raised it's arms back and flexed it's tail up as it readied to slam down upon Tourmaline. Seeing her opportunity, Ruby rushed in, her blades crossed in an X-shaped form. As the beast began to bring down it's two hammers, Ruby used all of her might to slice through the beasts thick tail, severing it at the base. The creature stopped it's attack and jumped back and over Tourmaline, as it turned to see the young girl and it's tail wriggling and writhing in the snow.

"Good job Ruby!" Tourmaline shouted happily.

"Thanks! So now what?" She shouted back.

"Now it's your turn to distract him." Tourmaline declared.

"Excuse me?" She said in a terrified tone.

Suddenly, the creature let out a loud, rage-filled roar as it ran towards her. Ruby quickly dashed away from the beast, fearing for her life. As Tourmaline rised up, Sapphire ran up to him with an angry expression on her face.

"So that was your plan!? To get your partner killed!?" She shouted at him.

"No, but it involved putting her in danger, now it's your turn. While it's distracted, stab it in the back of the knees. We need it to stay still." Tourmaline explained.

"And what are you going to do?" She asked.

"Oh you'll see. Now go quickly before Ruby becomes a pancake!" Tourmaline shouted.

With an annoyed grunt, she rushed behind the beast, who was madly swinging at Ruby, tearing off chunks of snow and earth with each blow. Ruby wasn't even attempting to dodge the attacks, she was just running for her life.

"_You better have a pretty good plan Tourmy, or I swear I'll get him to kill you first!" _she thought angrily to herself.

She rushed towards a tree, ran up it, and jumped over the beast as it struck the tree, splintering wood and leaving a massive chunk of it gone. As it fell backwards, Ruby saw Sapphire approaching the beast.

"Ruby! Strike the back of the knees! We need to immobilize it!" She shouted.

Ruby gave a nod and landed next to Sapphire. The two girls rushed towards the beast. Ruby leaped into the air, and Sapphire rushed faster. She made a small leap and stabbed into the creature's soft spot, causing it to arch back and scream in pain. Sapphire quickly removed her claws as Ruby stabbed her blades into the freshly made wounds, stabbing through the beasts knees and sinking into the ground.

"We got him! But now what do we do with him?" Ruby questioned.

"That's where I come in." Tourmaline's voice shouted in the distance.

"There you are! Look, you got a lot of nerve making me bai-" Ruby shouted as she turned, her words cut short by the image presented to her.

It was Tourmaline of course, but it was what he was holding. He had the creature's tail in his hands, and was rushing at full speed.

"What the hell are you doing with that!?" Sapphire shouted.

"Simple my comrade. When life gives you prehistoric lemons, you make prehistoric lemonade!" He shouted gleefully, "LIKE SO!".

As he shouted that, he leaped into the air and spun the tail around in a 360, and came crashing down like a meteor. The writhing creature looked up, to see it's own tail coming crashing down, and then darkness. As Tourmaline came down and slammed the giant ball onto it's head, crushing its skull and leaving a huge indentation in it's torso. The creature's arms went stiff, and it fell back from the weight of it's mighty tail.

"Oh, well. That did the trick." Sapphire said.

"That. Was. Awesome." Ruby said, awestruck.

Before Tourmaline could respond, the creature burst and left a swirled, blue-violet gemstone. Sapphire walked up to the gem and created a bubble from her own and dissolved it.

"Cool, where did you learn how to do that?" Tourmaline asked.

"An...old friend showed me." Sapphire said.

Just then, a few people came out from their homes. One of the men saw the destruction caused by the fight and saw that the beast has been vanquished.

"They did it." He whispered to himself as he then shouted, "They did it! THEY KILLED THE BEAST!".

Just then, all the villagers came rushing out of their homes, cheering on their saviors for their service. As the cheering went on, the elder came out of his home and walked towards the gems. A smile forming on his face as he looked up at the heroes.

"I have no words to express the level of gratitude I have for you." He said happily, "My village and my people are now safe once more. We don't have to leave our homes, and we can continue our legacy here!".

"Yeah, no problem. Just doing our job." Tourmaline said, being filled with a new sense of gratification.

He had been congratulated on other things, a good hit, a perfect here it felt different, it felt...warmer. Like he actually made a difference and brought happiness instead of wrath and grief. He liked it. He loved this feeling overcoming him.

"If there is anything I can do to repay you, please say it now." The elder offered.

"That isn't necessary." Ruby insisted.

"No, I insist! Tell me what you would want." He said.

Tourmaline looked at Sapphire and knew what he wanted.

"How about her? Can she come along with us?" Tourmaline asked?

The elder and Sapphire looked at Tourmaline, surprised by his request. Sapphire didn't know what to think of this, it was all so sudden.

"Her? But she isn't one of us! She came here a while ago, she may live here but I don't think I can influence her to go with you." the old man explained, "Besides, why do you want her?".

"Because she works well with us. If we didn't have her help we would have been slaughtered by that thing. I don't know what else we'll be encountering on our journey but we will need as much help as we can get." Tourmaline answered.

Just then, Tourmaline turned towards Sapphire and walked up to her. He stood a few feet in front of her and stared into her eyes, and extended his hand. Sapphire had a million thoughts running through her head, but they were all soon quelled. She knew her answer.

"So what do you say? Wanna join us and see the world?" Tourmaline asked.

"I have seen a lot of the world already." She replied coldly, "But that doesn't mean I would want to see it all again."

With those words, she shook Tourmaline's hand and it was then decided. Tourmaline and Ruby had a new ally.

"I'll go with you, comrade." She said with a smile.

"Then it's settled, we'll leave now for whatever adventure lies ahead of us!" Tourmaline said.

"And what would that be?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, but it's gonna be awesome!" Tourmaline replied.

"Is he usually this chipper?" Sapphire asked Ruby.

"No, it's a pretty pleasant sight." She answered.

With that, the three gems made their way out of the village, as the people waved them on and gave them many thank you's and good luck's as they left.

"We will never forget you!" The elder shouted, "Good luck on your adventure!".

And with that, the trio walked on the snow covered road as the morning sun greeted them. With their newly found member, Tourmaline knew that their would be only great things to happen in the future for him and Ruby. He smiled to himself and looked onward, to see what could possibly lie ahead for them all.


	3. Chapter 3: Tangled Threads

Chapter 3: Tangled Threads

The sun was high in the sky, it's radiant rays of light burning any and all clouds in the sky, leaving a wide scape of blue. Below this wide range of beauty was a large spread of green leaves of mighty trees. Such a sight from a bird's eye view is enough to take one's breath away, but it's what lies underneath this canopy, a world that man can only comprehend in myths and legends. This is a sight that attracts both man and gem alike, for this forest holds secrets that any and all living being would die to see, to experience. Ruby and Sapphire looked onwards from the edge of this ancient forest, and wondered what would lie between the trunks of these mighty plants that spent decades growing.

"I got to admit, this is a step up from Russia. At least it's warm here." Ruby said with a smile on her face.

"Aw, I actually like the cold, but this is a pretty nice sight as well." Sapphire replied warmly.

"Not that I'm complaining!" Ruby said modestly, "I grew up a cold environment, so it's just nice to be somewhere...not frigid is all!"

"Hehe, it's fine Ruby, I get where you're coming from." Sapphire said as she turned her attention to Tourmaline, lying on his back and staring at the sky, "So why are we here exactly? 'This is going to be an awesome place!' Doesn't really explain much." She said as she impersonated Tourmaline.

With those words, he sprung up from his lazy position and walked up to the girls. He looked up at the trees and gave a small grin.

"Since you ask, we're looking for a tree!" He said excitedly.

The girls happy faces gave way to sarcastic looks and disappointed expressions.

"Any in particular? Cause I see like forty of them already." Ruby said sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact smartass, yes. There's an ancient tree somewhere in this forest, where there is told to be a beautiful fairy. But she is held prisoner but a wicked spirit of the forest. Our adventure is to find that forest and save that fairy!" Tourmaline explained.

"So we're basing our adventure off of something you read in a children's book?" Sapphire said jokingly.

"I didn't hear this from a children's book! Granted it was from a book, but not a kid's!" Tourmaline replied annoyed, "Besides, do you have a better idea for our next adventure?"

The girls looked at each other for a second, thoughts racing through their heads to think of a comeback against him. But alas, they had nothing. They looked back at him with defeated expressions.

"Fair enough." The two of them said.

"Alright then, we wasted enough time. Let's move out!" Tourmaline said proudly as he led the girls into the forest.

As they entered the forest looking only onwards at the vine covered, prismatic new world, they felt a sudden rush of bliss. The scent of various flowers and other plants in bloom overwhelmed them and created a sense of inner peace for all of them. Their senses were on high, and everything felt so right with the world. With this rush of exuberance, the young gems began to bound over the giant roots of the ancient trees and went off to explore this wondrous new land. They were so caught up in their emotions, they didn't even notice the vines closing around any and all openings that allowed them to escape back to the real world. Like Alice before them, it appears our the gems have found themselves lost in Wonderland, but this time, something more sinister seems afoot.

The gems were frolicking in what felt like paradise. The air tasted like honey, and it smelled of the most wonderful carnations and roses. The forest flower felt like the plushest of furs, and the sound of the fauna soothed their hearts. Everything felt wonderful, the gems were laughing and a strong sense of euphoria rushed through them. Tourmaline spun in place as he raised his hands to the sky and laughed with a blissful look on his face. He was so captivated by this high, he failed to notice the tree root on the ground, as he backed up, tripped and smashed the back of his head against the dense bark.

Everything in his little world stopped in an instant. He slid down the tree and sat in a slump, his head pounding and his eyes aching. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, he saw that his fantasy world was nothing but smoke and mirrors. The plush forest floor was covered in twisted, sickly long grass, the air was thick with the smell of decay, the animal's heartfelt growls and chirps were twisted sounds of pain, and the forest was a black, decrepit place of rotting wood and fetid fungus. Yet Ruby and Sapphire were still gleefully prancing around like they were in a meadow. Finding the whole thing strange, Tourmaline looked up to see a dark orange cloud of some mystery gas.

"_That's probably what probably made me trip out._" Tourmaline thought to himself.

His headache now only a mild nuisance, he got up to his feet and walked towards the two drugged women. He grabbed the laughing Ruby by the hand and brought her to the exuberant Sapphire. The two looked at each other with their large smiles and turned to Tourmaline.

"Isn't this place wonderful!?" Ruby shouted, "I love this beautiful forest!".

"Yeah, lets stay here forever!" Sapphire shouted.

Their eyes were flushed orange, clearly a sign of the drug, and it seemed that reasoning with them wasn't also going to help. So Tourmaline took a deep breath, grabbed the two of them by the sides of their heads, and then slammed them together as hard as he could. The collision shook their heads to the core as they fell back from the harsh attack. Before they could yell at Tourmaline, their eyes cleared up, and they saw the true form of their paradise.

"I...what happened? Where did we go?" Ruby asked, feeling her sore spot.

"We're in the same forest, just without our rose colored glasses on." Tourmaline said, as he pointed towards the discolored air.

"So that gas made us feel this way? Hold on, I have something for this." Sapphire said, as she reached inside of her backpack.

She pulled out 3 gas masks, and handed one to Ruby and one to Tourmaline.

"These should block out that gas." She explained.

"Good thinking, but what are you doing with these?" Tourmaline asked.

"I work with chemicals, so it's good to have something as a sort of...safety precaution." Sapphire replied.

"Cool, so do you think you can deduce what this gas is then?" Ruby asked curiously.

"It seems to be some form of hallucinogenic stimulant. Sort of like an airborne LSD. The difference here is, is that it seems to be natural. There are no traces of any man made thing, like smog or smoke. Some sort of plant or animal is producing this." Sapphire elaborated.

"What kind of thing could make something like this?" Tourmaline wondered.

"I don't know, but we should find it and destroy it. If this gas has this kind of effect on gems, imagine what it could do to other life. We have to stop it before it spreads any further." Sapphire declared.

The other two gems noded in agreement and looked up at the gas. They saw that the wind was carrying it across the forest, so they went against it to hopefully track this mystery gas down at the source.

"Told ya this adventure would be fun." Tourmaline said jokingly.

"Yeah, we only would have gotten drugged and possibly lost here forever if it weren't for the fact that you're such a klutz." Ruby replied sarcastically.

With those words, Tourmaline clammed up and looked onwards at the gas trail, wondering what they would find at the end of it.

The trio began their trek through the dead Wonderland, moving against the gust that is carrying the odd toxin through the air. As they walked through the woods, they came across a very peculiar sound. It didn't sound like the fauna they were used to, it sounded more...insectile. Tourmaline rushed towards the noise and ducked behind a tree. He motioned to signal Ruby and Sapphire to come by. The two ran towards the adjacent trees and looked at each other. Tourmaline gave them each a quick nod and leaned over to get a peek at the mystery creatures. He got what he wanted, but it wasn't entirely what he expected.

There were about 8 of the things, shiny black shells with emerald gems on their lower halves, covered in legs and had a pincer on both ends. One end however held a singular eye within, flushed with the same color he saw in the girl's eyes when they were gassed, and their actions confirmed Tourmaline's suspicions. They were frolicking in whatever fantasy world they are perceiving. One was continuously picking up brackish water from a filthy stream, amused by the feeling/sight of the water rushing out of it's lower jaw. Another was rolling on it's back like a dog, making it's already black back even darker with the mud on the ground. The others were just staring at the sky, leaping, rolling and playing like they were earlier.

"Ruby, do you know what those things are?" Tourmaline asked.

"They're centibeetles. Little juvenile ones from the looks of it." Ruby answered.

"Juvenile? So this is like a litter of kids?" Tourmaline asked curiously.

"Yeah, so the mother should be nearby." Ruby responded grimly.

"I don't think that'll be a problem. I mean look at the kids, they're tripping balls! The mother is probably incapacitated as well." Sapphire declared.

Tourmaline looked at the playful monsters and his stern look turned to a grimace. "Should we kill them?"

"If we clear out this gas, they might turn hostile. It's best that we take them out now before they sober up." Sapphire said.

With a sigh, Tourmaline gave a nod and rushed towards the nearest one. He summoned his weapon and delivered a kick that cleaved the oblivious creature in two. Sapphire and Ruby followed up with their weapons, slashing and stabbing at the poor beasts. It was over in seconds, a veritable slaughter. The beasts poofed away, but the gems were still on guard. As Ruby said, the mother had to be close. The group advanced but proceeded with caution. Looking all around for what could be the killer beast that would want to avenge it's young.

The group walked for what felt like hours, waiting in anticipation for it to strike. They kept going and going until they came across something that would break even their heightened focus. They found the source of the gas. It leaked from a giant tree, completely white and covered in silk. The trunk was as wide as a bus and the top was not visible amongst the other foliage. Giant white bags hanged from it's branches, their contents were anyone's guess.

The gems walked up to the silk soaked tree, mystified by it's presence. As Ruby walked up with her friends, a large drop of green liquid fell in front of her. She looked up to see that one of the bags was leaking.

"Hey guys, check it out!" She shouted as she pointed upwards.

The other's looked up and saw the white bag with the large green splotch.

"Huh, wonder what's inside." Tourmaline pondered.

"Lets find out." Ruby declared, as she drew her weapons.

She took one sword and threw it at the thread holding the large bag afloat. The blade spun faster and faster whirling through the air and it sliced through the thread cleanly. The large white sack fell fast, it only took a few seconds for it to come crashing down to the forest floor. Leaves, twigs and other debris went flying with the impact of the now massive sack. The gems approached the bag with a newfound sense of curiosity.

"Wonder what's inside." Sapphire said nervously.

"I don't know, but something is off about this sack. I mean, there was already something weird about it but now there's something else." Tourmaline said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

Tourmaline pointed at the egg shaped sack. A closer look revealed a large mark in the sack, almost like a seam closed shut. "It looks like this thing had been opened and closed up."

"W-Why would something do that?" Sapphire asked, stuttering.

"Only one way to find out. Lets rip this thing open and see what's inside." Ruby declared, as she drove her other blade into the seam.

The blade slid through the weakened slit like a hot knife through butter. Once at the other end, the bag tore open and something thumped out of it. Something big. They looked over and saw the same familiar black shell and green gems and pincers. It was the mother, or what was left of her. Her body was littered with strange bite marks, chunks of her lower and upper sections were missing. Her white mane was stuck to the silk and her eye...well there wasn't one. The strangest part was that each of her wounds, save for the one that made the green spot in her bag, was completely dry. No liquid, no sign of clotting, it was as though it was drained of it's blood.

"Well, that answers one question but raises soooo many others." Tourmaline said, perplexed by the sight.

"What kind of gem beast could do something like this?" Ruby asked as she looked over the carcass.

"Maybe it was a spider. The silk threads are kind of a dead giveaway." Tourmaline dryly said.

"Yeah but what kind of spider I mean. And what kind of spider makes a gas, let alone a hallucinogenic kind." Ruby continued on.

Just then, a kind of light screech was heard from above. The gems tensed as they drew their weapons and looked up. What they saw was unexpected. It wasn't a spider, but a giant moth. It's coat white as the silk that covered the tree, it's eyes a deep black-green. It's wings were odd though, each one had four black lines, one on the top, on on the bottom, and two cutting through the forewing and the hindwing, leaving two black gems in-between them. It flew above spreading a pollen that evaporated into the familiar gas. Then it disappeared above the cloud to high above the other trees at the top of the massive white one.

"One question raised, many others answered." Sapphire said.

"Care to elaborate?" Tourmaline asked.

"What we are witnessing is a symbiotic relationship. This moth is obviously spreading this pollen and gas around the forest. Why? To repay the…thing, that is inhabiting this tree. The...spider," She shuddered as she said this, "created this home for itself, and it's friend. To repay it for a home to raise it's own young, it spreads this pollen, making it a breeze for spider to get it's prey." She explained.

"Also to avoid the spider eating it." Ruby explained.

"Yeah...that too." Sapphire replied grimly.

"Well the point is, is that we found our culprits for causing the destruction of this forest. Lets find the spider first and kill his buddy later. Not much it can do to us anyway, considering we have these masks." Tourmaline said, "Come on, lets get climbing."

With those words, he leaped onto and grabbed a hold of the silk and began his ascent. The others quickly followed, although Sapphire seemed a bit hesitant. Ruby looked at her friend with concern.

"You alright Sapphire? You're acting a little weird." She asked.

"Oh no I'm fine! Just, getting a feel of the place." Sapphire responded chipperly.

Sapphire gave an enthusiastic smile as she waved at Ruby. Ruby gave a shrug and returned her attention to climbing the white tree. As soon as she turned her head away, Sapphire's warm expression faded away to an upset frown. Groaning to herself, she walked up to the tree and began her trek to join up with the others.

"_Ooooooh why did it have to be a spider!?_" She thought to herself, "_Why couldn't I just have a giant butterfly to deal with and be done with that!?" _

The climb was long but fairly easy due to the webbing. They reached what could only be called the heart of the tree, a large carved out area with some small silk sacks here and there. The air was thick with the sickly smell of decay and rotting strands of web. The inside looked more like a dungeon of white than an animal's nest. The group scanned the area to find the giant menace but to no avail. There was nothing here. The gems nearly decided to check higher when they heard a small noise coming from one of the sacks. They turned towards the sound to see it moving, as if something still alive was trapped in there. Tourmaline ran over to it with one kick, slit open the sack and leaped back as it's contents spilled out. It wasn't a centibeetle, but a young blue girl, her dreads matted with webs.

"What the hell?" Tourmaline exclaimed.

She turned over, still in shock from her sudden rescue. She scurried back against the wall of the tree, her breathing heavy. It was now that her chest was viewable, revealing a blue gem.

"Who are you!?" She asked, still scared.

"Whoa whoa whoa, easy! It's okay, we're...friends I guess. I'm Tourmaline, and this is Sapphire and Ruby." He said as the others waved with welcoming smiles, "We came here to find out what's up with this forest. We're gems."

"What...you're gems?" She asked in astonishment. As she looked down, she noticed the two rectangular gems of tourmaline covering the young man's shins. As soon as she saw them, she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Oh my god, it's hard to believe there are others out there, let alone here. Sorry for freaking out earlier, it's just that your masks are kind of...creepy." She said, pointing at Tourmaline's gas mask.

"Yeah, I guess so. Hey Sapphire, is it okay if we take these off?" He asked, facing her.

"I would say so, she doesn't appear under the effect of the gas, so it should be fine." She clarified as she took of her mask, revealing her face.

"Okay good." Ruby said as she took of hers.

They took of their masks and gave them back to Sapphire to hang onto. Then they turned their attention back to the girl. She looked a bit younger than Tourmaline and was wearing what could be called some form of greek garb, much like what an oracle would wear, except less revealing.

"My name is Tanzanite." She said as she walked up to Tourmaline, "I suppose you're wondering why I was caught in that mess."

"Spider. We got it already. It's working with that moth we saw earlier, a kind of boss/employee relationship. We're going to squash the spider first. Also why didn't you get eaten by it?" Tourmaline spat out.

"I wouldn't make much of a meal for it. It was probably saving me for...it's young." Tanzanite said, as she shivered.

"That thing has young!?" Sapphire yelled.

"No no no, not yet anyway. It spent it's time making this into a form of nesting ground, supplying it with leftovers and occasionally some live stuff. If it had kids, I think I would know first hand." Tanzanite explained.

"OH thank goodness." Sapphire said with a sigh of relief.

"By the way you're only half right. There is a relationship between that moth and spider, but it's beca-" Tanzanites words were cut short by the sound of giant wings beating.

The moth came flying into the area, flying around for a minute, circling around and looking down at the intruders. It then landed in front of them blocking the only exit. It gently flapped it's wings, but gave off no pollen. Then it's wings bent. The black gems slid to it's sides and the webbing became tufts on the now thick legs. It's thorax swelled up, and it's white coat shed, revealing a purple cortex. The two big eyes separated into 3 eyes each, now glowing yellow. Lastly, it's featureless face stretched like a sheet of skin being ripped apart, revealing a mouth hiding a sharp set of mandibles and fangs, dripping with venom. The creature opened it's mouth and let out a hissing shriek at the gems.

Tourmaline went into an offensive pose, as did Ruby. Sapphire stood there for a second, paralyzed with fear. But she quickly shook it off and summoned her weapons. They were the only thing standing between this monster and Tanzanite, and they weren't going to let if off easy.

"I...I can fight too!" Tanzanite exclaimed as her gem glowed, summoning a small sword.

"If you say so." Tourmaline said, his attention turning to the bothered Sapphire, "Hey, you okay?".

"Ju-just fine! Just wasn't expecting something like...this." She said shakily.

"You have an issue with spiders?" Tourmaline asked.

As she heard this, the beast gave off a mock lunge, leaping forward with it's forelegs swiping forward and it's mandibles dripping venom, all while giving the same horrific screech.

"Gah! *sigh* Okay tough guy yes! I am scared of spiders! HAPPY!?" She shouted at him, obviously upset.

Tourmaline was taken back a bit by her sudden outburst, her morale was obviously low and he had to do something about it. Time to put on the charm that he was building up.

"You know, I have a bit of a problem with spiders too." He admitted. Sapphire then looked at him in surprise. Was he serious? Or was he just saying that to make her feel better?

"Yeah, they're pretty nasty but hey, my foot was designed to squash these freaks!" He said confidently.

Yeah, he was saying it to make her feel better, but it worked. Her confidence was back, and she was ready to slash her personal fear's face to shreds. It's time to fight, and she's raring to go more than ever before.

Tourmaline was the first to charge at the beast. He leaped at it, spinning to prepare a massive roundhouse kick. But before it could connect, the arachnid leaped out of the way, latching onto the wooden walls of it's domain. Tourmaline landed and looked up at the beast, amazed by it's agility. The beast then leaped at the girls, causing each of them to leap back from it's clawed legs and massive weight. It may have been surrounded but the gems had been scattered, and it's attention was on Sapphire.

The beast rushed her, jaws opened wide and liquids still leaking. For a moment, she froze in place, but she snapped out of her fear induced trance and slid under the beast, stopping directly underneath it's abdomen. She stabbed wildly with her claws, puncturing it's shell and ripping out bit of soft flesh and black blood from it. The best shrieked in pain and raised it's body up. Ruby acted quickly and pulled Sapphire out before the beast could slam it's massive body down, pulverizing her. The beast felt confused, not feeling the squashed gem on it's underbelly, and just splintered wood. In it's daze, Tourmaline delivered a midair axe kick, splintering it's hard shell, blinding two of it's eyes, and enraging the beast beyond comprehension.

Tourmaline leapt back as the creature's mouth began to foam and leak even more green venom. A cracking sound was made more and more apparent, and then it happened. The mandibles in it's mouth shot out, splintering parts of it's shell and revealing it's deadliest weapon. These pincers were covered in blunt spikes that oozed the green liquid. If a cut didn't kill what those things touched, the venom would.

"_That explains how it could cut it's sacks and gut it's victims._" Tourmaline thought to himself.

But he didn't have much time to think, as the beast charged him with it's mouth wide open. Tourmaline jumped out of the way of the slicing mandibles as they came together in an instant, scissoring motion. Tanzanite and Ruby took their advantage and attacked it's back legs, severing them from it's body. The spider screamed and stumbled back, trying not to lose it's balance. It regained its footing and swung the giant blades towards them. They leaped out of the way, but it's attention was now focused on Tanzanite. The young gem landed and blocked the first mandible as venom dripped onto her shirt and arms. The beast tried it's best to slip them over her head, but she resisted as hard as she could. She couldn't afford to get in-between them; she would be slaughtered.

Before the creature could accomplish this, Tourmaline leaped onto the creatures back, jumped of off it, and came crashing down onto the creature's already cracked skull. Bits of shell and wood splintered from the impact and the mandibles dropped giving Tanzanite some breathing room. Tourmaline hopped off of the creatures head as it slowly retracted it's mandibles, now cracked from biting down on them, and stumbled about, giving a painful roar. The creature fell to the ground, it's legs no longer able to support it's massive weight. It turned it's head to look at a stunned Tanzanite, and that's when it made one little screech, signaling it's last attack. Like a gunshot, the mandibles shot out of it's mouth straight ahead, aiming at Tanzanite. Not able to react fast enough, she could only stare as time itself felt like it slowed down, as she anticipated her fate. That's when she felt something push her.

She fell to the ground, and looked back to where she was standing. Only this time Tourmaline was where she was standing, and he was the one who took the attack. The mandibles sticking in his stomach poking out the back, green blood would have spilled out in a deluge if it weren't for the thick spiked blades plugging the holes. His mouth was one of disbelief and pain, as blood came trickling out of the corners of his mouth. The other gems stared at their comrade for what felt like ages, and then this moment was shattered with the shrill cry of Ruby.

"**TOURMALINE!" **She cried as she gripped her swords and ran towards the monster.

Tanzanite's disbelief was replaced with a swelling anger, as she gripped her sword and ran towards the beast, yelling along with Ruby. She leaped over the mandibles and drove her blade into the creature's cracked skull. The creature let out a pain filled cry, but it was cut short by Ruby stabbing both of her blades into the spider's skull. It lied motionless, and their attention turned to Tourmaline, coughing up green.

"Well this feels...awesome." He said as he chuckled and coughed to himself.

"Don't move Tourmaline!" Sapphire shouted, "We'll get you out of there safely."

"Nah it's fine I got it." He said as he started pulling himself away from the pincers in his belly, "I just gotta pull myself out of this and get bandaged up. Sure I'll be out of commision for a day or three, but-".

Just then, the spider's corpse spasmed. The mandibles flew apart, and so did Tourmaline. It happened so fast, just a flash and they spread apart and with a horrible, crunching, tearing noise and a flash of green, Tourmaline was now in two. His torso fell onto the ground, a pained and surprised look on his face as his eyes bulged. The gems just stared at him, in sheer shock of seeing their friend being ripped in half. He weakly raised his head up, more blood leaking from his mouth, and looked at his friends.

"Guess I'm gonna need more than a few days." He said with a smile.

The creature burst, leaving behind a few gems, and so did Tourmaline. As he poofed away, the last thing he could see was Ruby running towards him, a horrified expression on her face, as his entire world went black in an instant.

To be continued...


	4. Chapter 4: Death is Only the Beginning

Chapter 4: Death is Only the Beginning

There was a large cloud of vapor where the spider used to be. It's purple mist spread with the breeze, but quickly dissipated. The same happened for the disintegrated Tourmaline, now just a pair of yellow, rectangular gems. A devastated Ruby ran up to them, dropping to her knees. Tears welling up in her eyes and an expression of true sorrow on her face, she picked up the gems and held them to her chest.

"You idiot." She said, choking back her tears.

Tanzanite and Sapphire walked up to her, and each placed a hand on her shoulder. They kneeled down next to her and looked at the gems.

"It should be me in that state, he didn't have to do this." Tanzanite said.

"Wonder when he'll come back." Sapphire said.

Just then, Ruby looked at her with a moderately surprised look on her face. She of course knew about the gems ability to regenerate, but why is she handling this so easily?

"Is that all you have to say!? You just saw our friend get torn in half and you barely show any emotion!?" Ruby shouted.

"It's not like I'm not feeling anything! It hurt to see my friend get hurt like that, but if I don't keep a level head, no one will!" Sapphire yelled back angrily.

"I...yeah, but your treating death like it isn't a big deal!" Ruby responded, a little more calmly.

"It isn't, at least it's not as big a deal to us as it is to others. We have second, and even seventh chances, but others aren't as lucky. It doesn't mean I don't feel anything when a gem truly dies, but if I freak out every time this happens, it'll only do harm to me and others around me." Sapphire explained calmly.

Ruby looked at Sapphire, then at Tourmaline's gems, and then to the ground. She knew she was right, but her emotions were running so high right now that she couldn't even think of something to say. She wanted to cry but knew there was no reason, she wanted to be mad but there was no one to take it out one. She just felt sick, everything was happening so fast, and all she could do was just keep it inside. She just punched the ground and grit her teeth, fighting to keep it inside. She was shaking, but then she heard Tanzanite's voice. She quickly turned to her, emotions on high.

"This is my fault, I should have focused more. It's just that...I hate violence. I only fight when I have to, and that's to stop creatures like that. But it rarely happens for me, so I'm not as experienced as any of you. He sacrificed himself just to save me." Tanzanite said somberly.

Ruby's emotions slowly died out and were replaced with a sense of empathy. She walked over to Tanzanite, tears now gone, and hugged her. Tanzanite just stood there, surprised by the sudden embrace.

"It's not your fault. Tourmaline does crazy things, and saving you seemed like a good idea to him. That's how he acts, he just goes with an idea and doesn't think of the consequences." Ruby said, "Don't worry, he'll be back.".

With those words, she heaved a sigh of relief and released Tanzanite. In the mean time, Sapphire had just sent the spider's gem away, and turned her attention to Tourmaline. She grabbed the two large stones and placed them in her backpack for safe keeping. She waved the other two on to come follow her.

"Let's go. We'll find a safe place to stay until Tourmaline regenerates. Come, we're done here." Sapphire said sternly.

The gems looked at each other and nodded. They jogged towards their newly appointed leader as she lead the way down the tree, and hopefully back to civilization. Their adventure was over, but this time, with collateral. As they climbed down the tree, something was happening with Tourmaline's gems. They gave off a faint glow, indicating some kind of action. All gems know the process of regeneration was the repair of the body, but the mind and soul of a gem was locked inside of their stone. To many it's a period of rest and peace, but not for Tourmaline. For he is locked inside the land that he fears the most; his own mind.

The cold, harsh hands of death were near Tourmaline's soul, wanting to grasp it but knowing that it can't. Death like this for a gem is like being stuck in Limbo, except death is waiting to bring you to the afterlife, instead of waiting and hoping that it can take you for itself. It's just a cold, dark world, and the only ones that keep the gems sane are themselves and their mind. Unfortunately, Tourmaline doesn't trust either of them. He laid there, floating in an empty darkness, wondering what had happened to him. No one really explained death to him. Whenever he would ask Topaz about it, he would reply with "You have no need to worry about death, you just need to worry about bringing it.". Everything was so strange, yet so sane.

"_Is this it? Have I died already? Is this my descent to Hell?_" He thought to himself, as he floated in an infinite space.

Without warning, Tourmaline slammed into the ground, or what he at least assumed was ground. As he stood up, rubbing his sore back, he looked down to see the same emptiness. Nothing has changed from the looks of it, he was just now standing in the void. He turned around slowly in a full circle, looking for any sign of something different. It was when he finished his slow spin, he noticed it. Eyes like his, hair like his, face like his, it's the doppelganger from his dream. As he approached Tourmaline, only his outline was visible. He looked like a picture that wasn't colored in yet, save for the color of his eyes.

"So you're back…" The imposter said with a monstrous grin.

Tourmaline quickly summoned his weapon and assumed a defensive stance, his anger rising from the memories of their last discussion.

"Oh please. I didn't come here to attack you. Hell, I didn't even come here to lecture you, considering you won't listen to me." He said, his grin slowly turning to a scowl, "I am here to merely guide you."

"Guide me to what? To my true self?" Tourmaline replied angrily.

"In a way, yes. There's someone else here that you should meet. Someone who may be better at persuading you than I am." He said calmly, "She has a greater understanding of you than even me."

"She? Who are you talking about?" Tourmaline asked, now a little more relaxed.

"You will find out soon enough. But for now…" He said as he raised his hands.

The imposter made a motion in the air and suddenly there was a white crack in the foreground. The crack soon opened up and a white light burst into the darkness. Various cracks spread through the blackness, one reaching Tourmaline and his copy. Tourmaline stared at the newly formed bridge of light, and looked back at the clone.

"You have a little trek to make." He said, his signature grin now back on his face.

"Hmm, and if I refuse to go?" Tourmaline questioned.

"I don't think you understand. You may have been able to escape in your dreams, but you can't here. You're stuck with me, and I control your world. So leave now before my mercy waivers." The clone said, as it writhed and swelled and it's voice deepened.

Tourmaline gave a sigh, and stepped onto the light and walked into the light, not knowing what will become of him, or what he will encounter. All he knew he wanted right now was some answers, and he may have finally be given an opportunity to get some. He had hundreds of questions roaming throughout his head, but only one seemed to be of major importance: Who is this she, and why is she in my head?

The three gems had just reached the base of the tree, and they saw that the odd cloud of gas has vanished. The plants had slowly began to return to their natural state. The black and brown, shriveled ferns and flowers gradually gained a familiar pigmentation, and the wrinkled leaves and petals slowly bloomed back into their natural state. In a matter of seconds, the forest was revived in a myriad of green and bright colors. It was even more beautiful than their fantasy world. The other two looked in awe, but Ruby's eyes averted to Sapphire's backpack, holding Tourmaline inside.

"I wish you could see this...what we have saved." She said to herself.

She looked away, a forlorn expression on her face. Sapphire quickly took notice to this, and walked over to Ruby and placed a hand on her shoulder. Ruby looked up, her tired eyes meeting Sapphire's sympathetic gaze. She gave her a nod and felt a little better.

"Alright then, lets get to a safe place. We'll go back the way we came and wait for our friend." Sapphire declared.

"Sounds like a good plan, except for one part." A man's voice shouted.

The girls looked around clearing, trying to find the source of the voice. They looked for a few seconds, then Sapphire caught a glimpse of his lanky form.

"Alright I see you! Come out!" Sapphire shouted.

From behind the tree, a tall, skinny man with long white hair appeared. His face had a twisted grin, and on his sides were two bright yellow gems. There was something about him that rubbed Sapphire the wrong way, something...threatening about him. He stepped out of the forest and into the clearing, standing about ten feet away from the trio.

"Who the hell are you?!" Ruby shouted.

"Oh forgive my lack of manners," He said with a small bow, "my name is Topaz, and I'm here to retrieve my associate.".

Tourmaline stood in front of the white, cracked portal, pulsating in the darkness. He felt a cool breeze swirl around him, his hair flowing slightly. He looked at it up and down, and decided to go through. With a deep breath, he lept through the portal. As soon as he went in, his entire body was enveloped in a cool mist, it's touch soft and moist on his skin. It felt like he was flying through a cloud, and he was a bird flying to it's destiny. Through this experience, Tourmlaine could only guess who this "she" his clone mentioned.

"_Who is this she? The woman from the last dream?_" he wondered.

His thoughts were just a scattered mess of questions. What does she want, where did she come from, all these and more ran through his head on repeat. His train of thought was then interrupted by the sight of white giving way to new scenery. The mist parted to reveal a dirt road, and some truly horrific things surrounding it. It looked like a tunnel of damned souls, swirling around the path, illuminating it with an eerie blue-green glow. Tourmaline landed a little roughly, sliding into the tunnel against his will as soon as his feet touched the ground. The inside of the tunnel was even worse. The distorted bodies leaked a red, chunky liquid that was no doubt blood. It fell like a light drizzle, drenching Tourmaline as he began to follow the path to it's end.

"_Murderer, bastard!" _The voices shouted in shrill pain-filled cries.

Tourmaline was slightly bothered by this, but he decided to push them out and focus on his objective. As he walked down the path, he started to feel something flow against his feet. He looked down to see that the blood had begun to form a small river, a river that was rising, fast. Within seconds, it reached all the way to his waist. Tourmaline went from walking, to treading blood, the scent of iron heavy in the air now. As he went further down the tunnel of death, he noticed things now flowing down the river. He wasn't sure at first, but when one came close to him, he saw it. A body of a soldier, his eyes looking up in a tense expression, neck slashed open. He remembers this man, from a long time ago. He was on a mission with Topaz, it was supposed to be a quick assassination, but they got found out, and things got out of hand. It was over in minutes, and the casualties were high.

"_You know how this feels now, don't you?"_ He heard an angry voice shout.

He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, but decided to power through it. He moved past the body and continued to progress. Then he passed another. And another. And another. It was like someone dumped an entire morgue into a river. But Tourmaline progressed, even as the words grew more hatefilled and angry.

"_Damn monster! How could you do this to me!? Dear god, I had a family!" _The voices shouted the most.

Tourmaline was nearly overwhelmed with guilt. All these people, all people he killed, all people who didn't deserve to die but he did in anyway. All these people he thought he could just forget and start over, clearly he was wrong. He held back his tears and continued to tread through. He saw a light in the sky, where all the blood and body parts were coming from. He heaved a sigh of relief, but didn't lose his tension, as had a steady climb to make now. He began his ascent, the souls of the ones he damned still shouting and cursing. As he kept going, more bodies kept floating by. He was half way up there when a body with a huge gash in it's stomach came barreling down the river and smacked Tourmaline square in the gut and knocked him over, submerging him in the liquid. he managed to use his weapon to stop himself from being swept away. He raised to a kneel, his entire body stained red, save for his green eyes. He regained his footing and started anew. It felt like eons, but he finally made it to the light source.

A bright light enveloped him as he began to swim away from the current. The red concoction splashing as he made his way to a black shore. He reached the shore and rolled onto his back, gasping for air, trying to catch his breath. He sat up and looked in horror.

"_No, it couldn't have been that many.." _He thought to himself fearfully.

He looked on to see a full lake of blood, littered with the corpses of those he killed. Everyone the same way he remembered them. Every decapitation, evisceration, dismembered body, all with the same, pained, terrified expression on their faces. He fell back down, overwhelmed by the sight. He finally knew where Hell was; it was in his own head all along.

"It's quite a sight, isn't it?" He heard a woman's voice say.

Tourmaline summoned all of his strength to lift his body up and look to where he heard the voice come from. He turned his head to the side and looked upon two slender legs, blue as the ocean. He looked up, and saw her full form. She wore a long blue skirt that covered her knees, followed by a white blouse with an etching of a star on her left breast. Her hands were a sky blue, as was her face, which housed two big, yellow eyes, as bright as the sun. Her turquoise hair was short and clean, and on her forehead was a small, bright blue gem. She looked down upon him with a concerned and sympathetic look.

"You've suffered through so much, done such terrible things...I'm sorry that I couldn't have been there to prevent this from happening." She said in a mournful tone.

"Who are you...and why are you in my head?" Tourmaline asked, still gasping for breath.

"I go by Aquamarine, however I may go by a different title by you. That blasted demon inside of you scared you so much I thought I would never be able to see you.. But now you're here...with your mother, as you should have been years ago." Aquamarine said.

With those words, Tourmaline felt a sense of shock that he never thought possible. This place may be his hell, but it also had his own angel.

Things were beyond tense at the clearing. The Topaz was staring down the three gems as they assumed a defensive stance. They didn't have to think twice, this man had the intention of stealing their friend away for whatever twisted purpose he desired. The aura he gave of was one of true malice, and he had the expression of a sadist on his face. This man could not be trusted.

"Why the hell do you think we would do that!?" Ruby shouted as she summoned her swords.

"Oooh. You're the guardian from that temple in Canada! The one who persuaded him to leave his past behind with some harsh words and false hopes?" He said as his voluptuous tone turned sinister, "Oh ho how perfect, now I know exactly who to punish for taking my associate away from me!"

"What do you mean taken away from you? Tourmaline left of his own accord!" Sapphire declared.

"Only through some clever persuasion from the girl over there. But regardless, he still has much to answer for. He slaughtered an entire group of men, a crime inexcusable as you are well aware, and I am merely here to take him to justice." Topaz said persuasively.

Sapphire and Tanzanite were shocked by this revelation. The thought of him killing someone, let alone a group of people, seemed beyond farfetched. They looked towards Ruby, who seemed unshaken by the news.

"Ruby...this guy is lying, isn't he? There's no way Tourmaline did that, right?" Tanzanite asked nervously.

"...No, it's true. Tourmaline killed some guys, I saw him covered in blood at the scene of the crime." She admitted.

The initial shock the two received was nothing compared to the sheer magnitude of this revelation. They stood for what seemed like hours, horrified by this news. Topaz stood by, grinning to himself, knowing that he would be abandoned by his "friends" and he would be back to his old, bloodthirsty self.

"That may be true...but that doesn't mean he isn't lying." Ruby continued, "Tourmaline killed a group of twisted men who were trying to steal an artifact that was protecting my town. I doubt anyone would care about delivering justice to someone who dealt with a band of crooks. If Tourmaline hadn't had done what he did, they would have tried other methods to gain it."

An angry expression came upon Topaz's face. He didn't think she would have known the circumstances for the killing. He was slowly losing control of the situation.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a murderer. Call it justified or not, he still killed a few people." Sapphire said.

"I know it's shocking...but he wants to change, he told me so. The reason I am still alive was because he held back, I know he did. He didn't want to kill anymore, he wants to live a different life. If we give him to this guy, I know he'll either kill him, or force him into that life of violence again!" Ruby shouted, trying her best to defend her friend.

Sapphire looked towards Tanzanite, their eyes exchanging their thoughts. A few moments passed, and they nodded and walked towards Ruby. They stood next to her and looked straight into her eyes. Ruby looked at both of them, ready to steal Tourmaline away if they think differently than her.

"You're right. I know what it's like to be hurt and scared. That's how he must have been." Sapphire said as she turned to Topaz. "I won't allow you to take him!".

"That goes double for me! He may have done some bad stuff, but he saved my life!" Tanzanite said as she drew her sword.

The gems stared him down, with weapons in tow, ready to attack at the slightest movement. Topaz heaved a sigh and a disappointed expression appeared on his face.

"This was supposed to go so well...alright I'll come clean. Tourmaline isn't guilty of anything, at least with the law. He did a nice bit of vigilante work by killing that gang." Topaz said as his tone became angrier and angrier, "But he betrayed his employers, abandoned his duties and failed his mission, AND FOR THAT _**HE MUST PAY!**_" He screamed as he threw two round objects and jumped away.

The two pods burst, covering the entire area in a thick smoke. The three gems immediately lined up back to back, covering any and all blind spots and effectively putting Tourmaline between them all. They heard the sound of Topaz circling around them, getting closer and closer. They all tightened their grips on their weapons as the anticipation for an attack grew.

"How sweet of you to try to protect your "friend", it's too bad that it's a wasted effort. But go on, try to stop me from taking him away, and killing you." Topaz said in a mocking tone.

Tourmaline was still in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. His mind couldn't have been playing tricks on him, how else would it generate this woman whom he had never even seen before? She looked nothing like any other woman he saw in his life, and her voice was unlike any that he had heard before. It was soft, yet still gave impact. Summoning all of his strength, he lifted himself to his feet, and looked his mother in the eyes. He was slightly taller than her, but he was still scared by the whole situation.

"Are...are you serious? You're my mother?" He said in a quiet tone.

"Yes. I've been waiting all this time to see you." Aquamarine replied.

"But...how are you here? Gems are supposed to die when they give birth, right? To pass on their gem to their child." Tourmaline questioned.

"Not die, be reborn. We sacrifice ourselves to bless our children with the magic that we ourselves were blessed with. We are reincarnated in a way, but we still live on in our child's gem, in order to guide and protect them in anyway we can." She explained.

With those words, she turned her back on Tourmaline and slowly started to walk away. After she gained a little distance, Tourmaline followed her lead, wanting to know more about her and more about his past. As they walked, Tourmaline tried to speak, but saw that his mother was in a deep state of concentration, probably trying to gain a grip on the situation. He couldn't blame her, this is a huge event for the both of them, not just him. They walked for a decent time, away from the red lake of Tourmaline's sins, and came to a crystal beach. The white beach was composed of a kind of dust, like crushed gems, and it gave off the aroma of white lilies. The water was clear as glass, showing the shallow bottom of the lagoon. It was surrounded by cliffs, pouring pure water from their sides into the main source of water, as well as some other shallow pools carved into the cliff side. Aquamarine pointed towards one of the small pools, with a tiny waterfall pouring into it.

"Go wash. You shouldn't talk while soaked in that vile stuff." She demanded.

With those words, Tourmaline walked over to the spring and let the water overtake him. The water overtook him , turning the once clear pool into a red vat of dirty water. Though this sight was short lived, as the waterfall came down and cleaned the pool as it did Tourmaline. It was over in seconds, as he walked out of the pool he shook his hair out to it's original messy state, the breeze from the lagoon quickly dried him. He was back to his old self, and walked over to his mother, now sitting on the beach, looking at the rippling water. He sat down next to her, and looked at her face.

"You must have so many questions…" She stated.

"Yeah, I do. For starters, who is my dad? What kind of person was he like?" Tourmaline asked.

"...You're father's name is Jade. He was a reckless, battle hungry man who loved nothing more to fight and defend. He did anything for the good of our people, and he would do even more for me. I was the only one that could approach him, to make him calm. He loved me more than anything, and would do anything to help me or others."

"So...what happened to him? If he was reincarnated along with you, where is he?" Tourmaline asked.

A good while pasted before she gave an answer. Tears began to well up in her eyes, but she choked them back to give her son the answer he needed to know.

"There was a war...it started after I found out I was pregnant with you. I wanted to fight and help defend my people and the earth, but your father wouldn't allow it. There was too much at risk, and he decided to take the burden for both of us, for your sake. Months past, you were coming along nicely, and Jade always came during the down periods to visit me and to see how you were coming. He had another mission to deal with, one more he said and he would stay and take care of you. It was a simple skirmish, but it soon turned out much worse than we could imagine. A great beast appeared, the size of a small whale, but the body of a tyrannosaurus. It had two giant jaws filled to the brim with sharp teeth, and three whipping, impaling tails. They say it was awakened by the bloodshed, born from the violence we spread against ourselves. It turned on the two armies, slaughtering wave after wave of them. A ceasefire was initiated, the two enemies put their petty differences aside to band together and slay the monster they have unleashed, lest it devour the world." She explained, as the tears began to stream down her face.

Tourmaline just sat, wanting to know more to fully understand the situation, to put a rest to all of his questions once and for all.

"You're father was put in charge of the final army, with a friend leading the other side. A young, talented woman named Rose. They intercepted the monster at an open field, and the battle raged on for hours. Men and women alike were torn to shreds by the beast, sacrificing themselves to deal the smallest amount of damage to it. In the end, there were only a small handful of them left. Your father, Rose, and her pupils. The beast was on the verge of death, but still wouldn't back down. It would have been a simple victory, until it happened. A young boy wandered onto the battlefield, ignorant to the danger, and paralyzed with fear when the beast set it's eyes on him. It sent it's mighty tail crashing down in an attempt to kill the boy, but one of the pupils, Garnet I believe it was, intercepted the blow. It nearly crushed her, but her friend Amethyst managed to pull the tail away with the help of her friend Pearl. But little did they know that was the monster's plan. While they were distracted, the beast charged Rose, jaws wide open, but then...then…" She choked on her last words, the tears coming out even faster now, "Your father came between them, and got crushed in it's lower jaws. He screamed in pain as it impaled and crushed him. The others saw this and saw an opportunity. The creature was distracted with it's meal, and that's when they delivered the finishing blow. They all leapt into the air, and came crashing down on the creatures, battered, torn neck. It was decapitated, and the body soon disappeared."

Tourmaline just sat there and stared at her. He had no words, he had no actions that he could do to express his emotions.

"They rushed up to him and saw that his gem was shattered along with the rest of his body. He was finished, they all knew that. He died with only these words; Please...tell Aqua...I'm sorry." She said, now sobbing.

Tourmaline placed his hand on her shoulder, trying his best to comfort her.

"In the end, I gave birth to you. As I faded away, with only the doctor there, I prayed for your safety. But instead of staying with your kind, you were placed in the care of humans. I understood why, our world was in shambles due to the destruction and chaos the war and that monster brought. But that just resulted in you becoming...this. I wanted to hate them for what happened, but it was your father's doing. I still blame them for his death, I am still mad at them for what they could have prevented, but I cannot come to hate them. That kid didn't know what was happening, he didn't know the danger." She said, in a harsh tone.

"And the gems, do you hate them?" Tourmaline asked.

"I will never forgive them for what they could have prevented, for the pain they made you suffer through...but I cannot come to hate Rose. Her pupils could have just easily saved the kid, but Rose is the one I cannot bear to hate. She was important to everyone, she was such a caring woman, who hoped for a world of peace. She came to me with the news, stating that she was regretful for what happened, for her own mistake that she will never forgive herself for. She explained what would happen to you. You couldn't be safe in our world, so she vowed to place you in the orphanage, promising to come take you back when our land has healed. But she never came to find you, as you transferred everywhere, each place labeling you a burden, and feigning ignorance to your existence." She said in a somber tone.

Tourmaline was silent. He looked out at the lagoon, heaved a sigh, and stood up.

"Do you understand now?" She asked.

"Yeah...I need to find Rose." Tourmaline responded.

The three gems were standing on guard in the sea of smoke. They inched slowly towards the path they came from, looking every way for signs of Topaz. As they inched away, Topaz rushed from the smoke, summoning his weapon and stabbing Sapphire in the abdomen with his sai before quickly rushing back into the dense fog. She gripped her side in pain, but still maintained composure. They kept walking, hoping to get out of the fog and have an even match, and then he rushed them again, this time, scraping Tanzanite's face, as she barely dodged out of the way. Topaz laughed as he disappeared once again, leaving a large gash in the young one's face.

"This isn't getting us anywhere!" Sapphire whispered.

"He's just taking pot shots, the coward. By the time we get out, we'll be in no condition to fight." Tanzanite added.

"Hmm, hold on. I have an idea, but you guys need to act fast on this." Ruby declared.

"What's your idea?" Sapphire asked.

"Don't worry about it, just be sure to act fast, we won't have a second chance." Ruby elaborated.

The other gems gave her a nod in agreement, and they went on as they did before. Topaz watched, staring through the fog, his eyes set on Ruby.

"_I really want to have you all by myself, but I can't hold back! I need to see you suffer, so I guess I'll just kill your friends in front of you and then make you squirm a little more before you die!" _He thought to himself, reveling in his sadism.

He rushed towards her, sais in hand and ready to strike her. Will he dislocate a shoulder? Tear a bit of her face off? Disembowel her right there? All such lovely options to him, a true psychopath. He reled back his one hand, ready to stab her and as he came closer, he thrust it forward, towards her eye, trying to blind her. Then the unexpected happened, Ruby leapt towards him and had him stab her in her breast. Topaz was stunned, never once did he see someone so eager to take the pain. Ruby seized the opportunity and grabbed both of his wrists, dropping her weapons.

"_**NOW!**_" She shouted.

The other two responded quickly. Sapphire drove her claws into his stomach separating him from Ruby. She lifted him up, a pained expression on his face as dark orange blood leaked from his belly. She threw him up in the air and Tanzanite responded by leaping up with him and slicing him with her sword, sending him flying back down to the ground with a large gash on his chest. Ruby acted quickly and grabbed her swords, rushing at him, ready to slice him in half. She collided with him and slashed him in an X-shaped arc, sending him flying towards a tree. He slammed his stomach against it and fell flat on his side, leaving a big orange mark on the tree. He looked up and saw the three girls staring him down, his blood on their weapons.

"Tourmaline is our friend, and we'll be damned before we give him up to a freak like you." Ruby said, rage and wrath in her voice, "Now leave now before we decide to not be so merciful."

Topaz got up to his feet, in an immense amount of pain as he continued to profusely bleed. He leaned against the tree, and laughed to himself.

"No point in reasoning with a woman I guess. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to talk to Tourmlaine myself. Whatever, it'll be more fun this way." He said, chuckling to himself.

Immediately after those words, he threw another small object, this one instead resulting in a large flash of light. The other's covered their eyes, shielding them from the blast. When they looked back, he was gone.

"Well now we go to rest with Tourmaline I guess." Sapphire declared.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Tanzanite asked.

"Who cares, he's nothing but a freak. I don't blame Tourmaline for wanting to ditch that guy." Ruby replied.

"Tourmaline…" Sapphire said looking into her backpack, "Should we let him know that we know?"

"I think it would be better if we didn't let him know. It would be easier if he thinks only I knew the truth. I can only imagine what would happen if he learned that everyone he knew knows that he's a was a murderer." Ruby answered.

They all nodded in agreement and began their trek back to civilization, hoping that Tourmaline would come back soon.

"What do you mean find Rose? What do you plan on doing with her?" Aquamarine asked.

"I want her to answer for what she's done, to see what sort of monster she created. Her pupils will also see the product of their mistake." He said morbidly.

"No Tourmlaine, no more violence!" She shouted.

"I won't be violent unless I am given no other choice. You've given me all the knowledge that I could hope for, now I know what I need to do with it." He explained.

"And what will happen once you find her?" She asked again.

"I'll make her listen, I'll let her know how you feel about what she has done." He stated again.

"She knows how I feel, and she would listen to you regardless. What do you really want? Answer me now!" She responded, her tone getting angrier.

"...I want to ask why she didn't try harder to find me. You sounded like you were close to her, so why did she just give up in trying to find me and hold your promise." Tourmaline answered, sorrowfully, "If she is the kind of person that would protect all that she cared about, why am I so different?"

She was taken back by his words. Her anger turned to empathy, and sadness for her son. She walked up to him and hugged him.

"Do you really wish to know?" She asked.

"More than anything now." He responded.

"...Then go, go find her. Start your search in America. She loved that country, for it's variety of different people. She'll be there somewhere, I'm sure of it." Aquamarine instructed.

"Thank you mom." Tourmaline replied.

With those words, his gems suddenly began to glow. He stepped back and gazed upon his gems as they shined brighter and brighter. He looked up to his mother, who had a sad, yet complacent look on her face, like a person sending off a dear loved one.

"What's going on!?" He shouted.

"It's time for you to go back. You have a life to live, and a quest to carry out." She explained.

"No! I don't want to go back yet, I don't want to leave you!" He shouted as the light began to envelop him.

He felt his body being pulled back, he tried his best to resist it and reached out for his mother. She walked up to him and held his hand.

"I haven't felt this hand since you were a baby in my arms." She said, "It's amazing how much you've grown."

"DON'T MAKE ME GO BACK! NOT YET!" Tourmaline shouted as loud as he could.

"I'm sorry my son, you have to go back. You have to change your fate and become the kind of person your father and I hoped you would be." She said as tears streamed down her face once more.

With those words, she let go of his hand and Tourmaline was pulled away, to go back to his own world once more.

"_**MOM!" **_He screamed as he was ripped away from her.

"Go my son, be happy...for my sake." She yelled back.

In an instant Tourmaline was thrown through the portal he came through, all the horrors he had witnessed along the way disintegrating before his very eyes. Aquamarine held her hands to her chest, and reflected on her conversation with her child. Her thoughts then interrupted by the doppelganger.

"Seems like the conversation went well." He said modestly, "You think he will be okay?"

She looked up to where Tourmaline was sucked back into the real world.

"He hasn't been okay for five centuries. I only pray that he receives a break, from everything." She responded.

"You know that he's trying, and it's taken a toll on his mental health." The copy explained.

"I've done all that I could, now it's up to him to decide how he wants to live his life." She stated.

"We'll see how he turns out." The copy said, as he left her alone again.

She walked down to the lagoon, and put her feet in the water. She sat back down and looked up at the twilight sky. Such a calm and wonderful place. The lagoon where Jade proposed to her, where they decided to share their lives together. She'll never forget this place, and it will always be with her.

"_Oh Jade, if only you were here to see what kind of man our son has turned into. You would know just what to do to make him feel better, you always knew how to cheer someone up._" She thought to herself.

In the distance, in the lake of blood, a small white light glimmered in the middle. It began to slowly erode the red goop around it like a glacier carving the land. It was a slow process of recovery. The copy looked onwards and smiled to himself.

"Maybe I'm not who I think he is. We aren't the same, he's a good person at heart." It said to himself, as a white light grew in his chest.

The trio made it to the clearing, their wounds taped up and disinfected. A simple stab wound or gash would heal up relatively quickly, so there was nothing to worry about. There was no sign that Topaz was around here, no sign of a vehicle or anything. They all laid down on the grass and looked up to the clear sky.

"Some adventure, huh?" Ruby said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but at least you found a new friend." Tanzanite responded, "I think I'll tag along with you guys. It's the least I can do for Tourmaline, considering what he did for me."

"I guess so, and you'll have to wait a little anyway before he comes bac-wait a second.." Sapphire went on, before she was interrupted by the sight of her backpack glowing.

She opened it up to see that Tourmaline's gems were glowing brighter than ever. They went up into the air and released a large amount of light. It writhed and squirmed for a second, but it soon turned into the shape of a man. Long hair flowed down to his neck, and then the light dissipated from his body, revealing Tourmaline, reborn.

He fell to the ground and immediately looked around, desperate to see if he was still in his gem, with his mother. His frantic thoughts however were interrupted by Ruby embracing him and squeezing him tightly. This was soon followed by Sapphire and Tanzanite. His thoughts about his mother had disappeared. He was back in the real world, and was reunited with his friends.

"Hey guys, you have any fun without me?" He asked jokingly.

"Not really, we just got out of the forest." Ruby said, hiding the truth.

"Wait, you just got out? How long was I like this?" He asked.

"About four hours surprisingly." Sapphire answered, "Usually it takes a gem at least 3 days to regenerate like that, how did you come back so fast?"

"I think he has a heightened regeneration factor." Ruby explained, "When I first saw him, he was sliced up and shot to hell and back, yet recovered to full health after a little bit of medical treatment. Any other gem would have gone into the usual healing state after going through that, but not him."

"I guess that makes sense. Every gem has their own unique power, and I guess that's Tourmaline's." Sapphire said as she laughed with her friends.

With that, Tourmaline walked ahead of his friends and decided to hold off on the search for Rose, for now. They've all been through a lot, and they needed a break.

"So guys, how about we head to one of the local towns? I heard the nightlife here is really amazing!" Tourmaline exclaimed.

"Uh sure, but no mission?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah no mission. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, or in this case nearly dead." Tourmaline said jokingly.

"Yeah you're right. We deserve a break." Sapphire said.

The other gems walked ahead of him. Tourmaline saw the cut on Tanzanite's face patched up, but he only assumed it to be from the fight. However, he managed to catch a glimpse of Ruby's bandage under her shirt. He remembered that she never received a blow to her chest, and the spider couldn't have caused something like that. They were hiding something from him, but he chose to ignore it for now. He touched one of his gems and thought of his mom, and then he ran after his friends, ready to relax before he began his true quest. In the distance from atop a tree in the forest, Topaz watched over him with a grimace.

"We'll meet again soon enough." He said to himself, as he went off in a different direction.


	5. Chapter 5: Kindred Spirits

Chapter 5: Kindred Spirits

The air was thick and rustic. The sight of cold, gray stone entangled in moss and vine surrounded the gems. Carvings of what appeared to be ancient gems performing rituals covered what the foliage didn't. Tourmaline heard about different temples hidden within the jungles, so he decided that they should explore them while they were still in the area. The first two were duds, just the same abandoned ruins you'd see on national geographic. He was starting to lose faith in finding another challenge before he began his true quest, until Tanzanite stumbled upon the hidden sanctuary by complete accident. She tripped on a root and pulled away some vines in an attempt to stop her fall. They didn't hold, but she ended up revealing a tunnel, a tunnel in the rock heading down to this new world. And so far, it's more than they all expected.

"Such odd carvings...did gems really do stuff like this?" Ruby asked as she gazed upon the carvings.

"Yes, these were in the before time. Long before gems came to earth, our society was rich in culture such as this. We expanded to earth because of the beasts that inhabited our home had congregated there. We couldn't allow them to harm a weaker species, so we moved here to protect them. Though we still remember and hold pride in our heritage." Sapphire explained.

"Wow, there were a lot of us weren't there?" Tanzanite asked curiously.

"Yeah...there were…" Sapphire said as she averted her eyes.

Tourmaline was walking ahead, he had no interest in history, he learned all that he wanted about it. He just came for one more rush before he had to attend to his personal business, to feel alive a little bit longer before having to go back to his reality. As he went on, he stepped on a panel and the floor beneath him vanished. Before he could even make a noise, he was falling. Only a few seconds after his trip, the floor appeared again. He was in complete darkness, the wind blasting his body as he fell. Thinking quickly, he summoned his weapons and slammed them into the wall. His feet bent upwards, nearly snapping his ankles, his body flew forward and slammed into the wall. The sound of cracking stone and screeching metal filling the entire pit as he prayed that it would stop him. Eventually, he started to slow down and came to a complete stop. It was pitch black darkness, but he could feel something inches away from his face. He focused, and made his gems glow, illuminating the black pit. In front of his face was a large spike pit, with skewered, cracked gems on a couple of pillars. Grabbing the one in front of him, he jerked himself free and carefully slid down the spike until he was at the base.

"Well that's one way to make a guy feel welcome." He said to himself as he marveled at the mass of death.

He looked around for a bit to find a tunnel. With no other options, he decided to go through to whatever other trap might be there.

"_It might lead to the main event. This way is probably so the people who lived here once could clean out corpses."_He thought to himself.

With his gems lit up, he went off to into the tunnel to discover whatever hell or heaven might await him. The walls were cleaner than the ones above ground, and showed even more images of ancient gems and their practices. Again, Tourmaline paid them no mind, as he had no time to sightsee.

Meanwhile, back at the original corridor, the other gems went on their way, avoiding stepping on the pressure plate that sent Tourmaline falling down by complete accident. Ruby called for him but received no answer.

"He probably ran ahead and left us behind." Tanzanite proposed.

"Yeah, he was pretty eager to make it to the end." Sapphire added.

"I just hope he leaves some fun for us. These ruins are cool but I'd like to have a little danger thrown in here too." Ruby said.

"I think he's starting to rub off on you." Sapphire said jokingly.

"...Shut up." Ruby said as she blushed lightly.

The bleak and empty room illuminated as the warp pad glowed brightly. From the light, a tall, tan woman and a small, light yellow girl appeared by her side. The tall one's hair was long, untamed and light blue, flowing past her butt, as opposed to the smaller one's two golden, curly buns. The tan woman wore a set of black shoulder pads that extended into a cape, with a star shaped hole in the chest. This covered a light purple one piece and she wore a set of long black boots, with a set of gems on each foot. The smaller one had a black and orange onesie on with one of the legs cut of at the thigh, with a pair of orange boots to match. The small one looked up to see her and she looked back.

"Now remember Topaz, this will be a simple recover mission. We'll go to grab the artifact and go, so don't expect too much to happen." The tall woman explained.

"Alright Tanzanite! I'm just happy to go on a mission with you, it gets kinda boring when you're out." Topaz responded cheerfully.

With a nod, the two girls left the warp room through a large doorway. Through this doorway, they found themselves in a large room. There were columns everywhere in perfect unison, and they all had artwork of gems on them. As they passed through, the young Topaz was marveling at the unique artwork, but tried her best to not fall behind her mentor. At the very end of the room, was a small pedestal, where a staff was housed on it. It was carved out of a foreign wood, something outside of the world, and held a large black gem.

"Wow...quick trip." Topaz said, a little miffed by the sudden end of their supposed journey.

"The ancient gems that once lived here had their warp pad built outside of their meeting hall to welcome all sorts of guests. That staff is a symbol of their leader, a great priest named Solomon Sardonyx. But soon the civilization crumbled during a war, and now all that's left is this ruined place and his staff. It's an important relic that houses some of his power, so we need to get it." Tanzanite explained.

"Alright then.." Topaz sighed.

Tanzanite quickly leaped up to the pedestal and claimed her prize. As she went back down to Topaz, they heard a growling noise. Quickly moving on the defense, she summoned her weapon. Blades of light blue energy formed at her feet, like a set of glowing ice skates. She handed Topaz the staff and placed her hands behind her back, ready for whatever might appear. They waited for a few seconds, looking every which way to see the source of the noise, and then it revealed itself in the form of a gem beast. It stood on two legs with it's back hunched over, like a dinosaur, it's back was covered in sharp spines, leading towards a large tail ending in a knife-like tip. It was at least seven feet tall at the shoulder, and fourteen feet long. It's short muscular arms housed sharp clawed hands, and it's sturdy legs housed large feet with black claws. It's large reptilian head had three, blue and red eyes on each side and had a large mouth filled with needle like teeth. Along its body were large turquoise gems held between magenta markings.

"Topaz, hop on." Tanzanite said as she crouched down to let her on.

As Topaz leapt onto her back, holding her and the stave tightly, the familiar growling noise came from another area. Then another, and another. Three other gem beasts of the same form appeared around them. One behind them, two on each side, and the original staring them down.

"_This is bad._" Tanzanite thought to herself, "_This place was supposed to be uninhabited, why are these things here?_".

The raptor like monsters slowly walked towards the two, making various screeching and hissing roars as they moved in. As soon as they got close enough, the one behind them lunged forward, teeth and claws at the ready. Tanzanite quickly dodged out of the way towards the one in front, leaping up to meet her in the air. She spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick, sending the beast into one of the pillars where it winced in pain. She skated towards the room with the warp panel. She could take them on if she wanted, but having Topaz with her made it too risky. They monsters gave chase, unable to catch up to her speed. They almost made it, until a sixth screech was heard from above. Another one of the creatures jumped down from the ceiling and grabbed the staff with it's teeth, pulling Topaz away from Tanzanite. Topaz clung on to the staff as the beast hoisted her up, and Tanzanite quickly stood up to stop the monster from hurting her student. The monster let go off the staff to take a bite out of Topaz as Tanzanite rushed to save her friend. But before she could reach her, a man came out of the darkness and delivered a scissor kick to the beast, slashing it with the blades on his feet. The beast fell down with two large gashes in it's side and he quickly grabbed Topaz. He rushed her over to a pillar and placed her down, ignoring Tanzanite.

"Stay here." He said as he turned back to the creature.

Topaz looked at the man in amazement. She saw his gems on his legs, she knew it was true.

"_Another gem!_" She thought excitedly to herself.

As Tourmaline turned his attention to the downed monster, Tanzanite skated up to him.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She asked.

"We don't have time for that, there are more urgent matters here." He said calmly.

The beast he knocked down rose back to it's feet. It bled intensely from it's fresh wounds. It let out a roar of rage that was soon accompanied by the roars of it's packmates. They grouped up together and stared down the two gems, ready to kill. The beasts roared and charged the two gems. The mystery man rushed towards them with Tanzanite close behind. He was the first to make an attack, leaping towards the wounded one and delivering a massive kick to it's open wound. The monster screeched as it fell down, and he did a backflip off and slammed one of the other monsters as he went down, his blade sinking deep into it's back, crushing the spines and ripping a huge chunk of flesh from it's side. Tanzanite quickly followed up with a spinning kick against the other distracted beasts, slicing off one of the creatures legs as she skated around and through the columns.

"_This is soo awesome!_" Topaz thought to herself as she witnessed their skill.

Three of the beasts surrounded him as the other two chased after Tanzanite. The wounded one rushed towards him, jaws wide open. He grabbed the creature by the jaws and threw it into one of the others. The third one leapt towards him, coming down with primal bloodlust. He avoided getting pinned down by it, but the beast managed to deliver a large wound with it's claws. He winced in pain as green blood drizzled out, but moved through his pain and raised one of his legs high and brought it down on it's neck, decapitating it. The other two recovered from the blow and quickly rushed towards him. Jaws snapping, they tried desperately to sink their teeth into two tried to bite him in unison, but he leapt off of their heads and moved backwards. He readied for the next assault, but his thoughts were interrupted by an intense pain in his leg. He looked down to see a raptor with a missing leg, with it's jaws clamped firmly around his ankle.

"_Crap crap crap!_" He thought to himself as the others drew near.

He used his free leg to stomp on the creature's stomach, his back blade slicing through it's scales and flesh, but the creature still held on. The other two were closing in, but before they made it to him, Tanzanite came skating by and delivered a spinning back kick to one of them, knocking into the other one and slamming through a pillar, the debris crushing the two of them. Soon enough, the downed raptor released him, dead from it's wounds. Tanzanite skated up to him and saw his wounds.

"Are you alright? Can you still fight?" She asked.

"Yeah, just a few scratches and nicks." He said confidently.

The other two raptors came rushing towards them, screeching loudly at the two gems. Tanzanite quickly skated up to meet them, her acquaintance next to her. The two monsters leaped forward, and so did the two gems. They spun mid air and delivered a kick to the monsters abdomens, slicing through the two monsters. They landed gracefully, and the two monster's halves fell to the ground with a loud, messy thud.

"So, you going to tell me your name now?" Tanzanite asked.

"Tourmaline. And you are?" Tourmaline responded.

"I'm Tanzanite and that is Topaz." She said as she pointed to the small girl.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet yo-" Tourmaline responded as he got up to his feet, and then his leg snapped, leaving the foot behind.

Tourmaline yelled in pain, on the ground as his stump bled profusely. Tanzanite and Topaz were in complete shock, but the two quickly moved to help the gem.

"Oh boy that looks bad!" Topaz said, horrified.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of that wound. It's the least I can do after you saved Topaz. Tanzanite said reassuringly.

"Nah, don't worry about it, I got it." Tourmaline said.

Before the two could respond, Tourmaline shouted like he was trying to push something out. This went on for a ten seconds, and then out of the stump, a new foot formed, covered in green. The two stared at the foot, shocked to see this happen, as Tourmaline breathed heavily.

"Wha, how did you…?" Topaz asked, bewildered.

"I have a heightened regeneration factor. Every gem has their own powers, this so happened to be mine. Cuts and broken bones heal on their own, but regrowing a missing limb takes up a lot of effort. It shuts down all other parts of my power to grow back one limb." Tourmaline explained.

"So that means these wounds need to be attended to." Tanzanite said.

With those words, she picked up the exhausted Tourmaline and made her way to the warp room. Topaz quickly followed along.

"Hold it right there!" A girl's voice said.

Tanzanite turned around to see three girls, all gems it would seem, holding weapons. They stared her down and moved closer to her, looking at Tourmaline.

"What did you do to our friend!?" One of them asked.

"This man saved my friend's life. He got into a fight some beasts and suffered these wounds. I was going to take him back to treat them." Tanzanite explained.

"Hmm, then we're coming too. He's ours to look after anyway." The red haired girl said.

"I'm Tanzanite and this is Topaz. Who might you three be?" Tanzanite asked.

"I'm Ruby, and this is Sapphire and...Tanzanite." Ruby explained.

The two Tanzanites looked at each other.

"That...might get confusing." Topaz said.

"We'll call you Tanza and you Taz." Tourmaline weakly declared.

"I...okay. But why the nickname for Topaz?" Tanza asked.

"I've had bad experiences with a Topaz...wouldn't want to be reminded of them." He said as the others noded in agreement.

"Fair enough!" Taz exclaimed.

With that, the group went to the warp pad. As they made their way through to it, Tourmaline looked up and got a good look at Tanza's face. Her soft lips and big violet eyes stared ahead, so Tourmaline could gaze all he wanted.

"_Woah...she's beautiful._" He thought as he slightly blushed.

His thoughts interrupted as they made it to the warp room. They all stood on the panel, and soon a bright blue light enveloped them as they went back to Tanza and Taz's home.

The group made it to Tanza and Taz's home. It was a quaint place. Small, but comfy. There was a bed and fridge in the room where they arrived, with artifacts littering the floor and walls. Taz smiled and went to sit on her bed.

"Welcome to our home! Hope you don't mind staying here for a bit while Tourmaline recovers." Taz said happily.

"You're awfully cheery given the circumstances." Tanza said, "And you guys are rather calm as well."

"It's not like we don't care, we know Tourmy will be fine. He's been in worse condition." Ruby explained.

"Pff..Tourmy." Taz said as she giggled to herself.

"I'll take Tourmlaine to my room. I'll treat his wounds there." Tanza said

"He can stay in my bed if you want." Taz offered.

"Sure...looks comfy." Tourmaline replied.

With that, Tanza carried Tourmaline to a large door. Her gems glowed and then the door glowed as well as it opened up for her. She went inside, leaving the others behind. The trio of girls looked at Taz, now beaming with excitement.

"Oh wow oh wow oh wow, all these new people!" She exclaimed.

"I take it you never saw other gems before." Sapphire said.

"Yeah, the other gem that I hang around is Tanza." Taz explained.

"Hmm, well...do you want to talk? I mean we're going to be here for a bit." Ruby offered.

"Yes please!" Taz exclaimed, as the others sat on the bed with her.

The room was wide and relatively empty, save for a few artifacts gathered in a corner. Tanza walked Tourmaline to the center of the room and gently laid him down. She walked over to her stash to grab a spare medical kit. Tourmaline sat up and watched her walk towards the stash, eyeing every bit of her. He's never witnessed someone this beautiful before in his life. It was a new, weird feeling. She grabbed the kit and came walking towards him. She knelt down in front of him and set the medkit next to her.

"I need you to take your shirt off." She asked.

"I..excuse me?" Tourmaline said bewildered.

"It's in the way of your wounds." She explained.

"Oh right." He responded.

He grabbed the ends of his shirt and lifted it off, exposing his muscular frame, with some small cuts along his torso and abdomen.

"You don't need to stitch me up by the way...I'll be just fine with bandages." He explained.

"Alright then." She replied.

With that, she reached inside the kit to get a large cotton ball and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. She poured a bit onto the ball and began to rub it over Tourmaline's wounds. He closed his eyes and lightly grit his teeth as the alcohol cleaned his wounds. After a few minutes of cleaning, she put away the bottle and placed the used, bloody ball in bag to be disposed of later. She reached inside again for a roll of gauze. She peeled back a strip and placed it on his ribs.

"Hold this please." She asked as she handed him the roll.

Tourmaline held the roll as she went behind him. Sitting on her knees, she reached around him to grab the gauze and start wrapping it around him. Her breasts lightly touching his back as she wrapped the bandages with one hand, and had her other hand glide on top of them to smooth them out. Tourmaline looked down to see her hands gliding across his torso, and he looked away for a second, blushing once again. After the last layer, she tore the end of the bandage and sealed the roll. She put it back into the medkit and went to go put it back where she got it. Tourmaline rose to his feet and walked up to Tanza, now seeing how tall she was compared to him. His head was at her chest, so he still had to look up to see her face.

"Thanks for doing this for me." He said.

"It's the least I can do for what you did for Top-Taz." She responded, "Why do you not want to call her by her name?"

"...It brings up too many memories. All bad." He said, as his mind scrambled for a way to change the subject, "So why do you collect all this stuff?".

"This is all part of our heritage. Our society crumbled years ago, and I intend to rebuild it." Tanza explained.

"Why though, can't you just leave the past where it is? Those things got sealed away for a reason you know." Tourmaline continued.

"...I have my reasons." She said somberly.

"What reasons? You're not making sense." Tourmaline said.

"Reasons that you don't need to know about!" She said, annoyed, "We're done talking about this. Please leave my room.".

Tourmaline was a little startled by her outburst, but decided it was best for him to leave her alone. She walked back to the door, looking back once to see her looking through the stash of artifacts. He turned back and went through the door. Tanzanite felt a sudden rush of sadness, but she quickly turned it away. He couldn't understand...no one could.

Tourmaline walked into the empty room, the sound of laughter coming from Taz's room as they laughed and talked with each other. He didn't want to bother them, so he went a bit out of his way and laid down on the floor. As he stared up at the ceiling, a thought popped into his head. A thought he never in his whole life would come into his mind.

"_I really wish I knew how to talk to women._" He thought to himself.

Morning came once again. Tourmaline rose out of Taz's bed, leaving the sleeping kid be. He couldn't sleep, or rather didn't want to. He just stared at the ceiling once again, thinking about Tanza, and what she said to him yesterday. As he went to leave the room, he heard Taz waking up. He turned to see the young gem look at him with sleepy eyes.

"Mmm..Morning." She said, still waking up, "You sleep okay?"

"No..I didn't feel like sleeping." Tourmaline responded.

"That's too bad. How's the injury?" She asked as she got up.

"Completely healed." He said as he felt his chest, "Where are the others?"

"I don't know, I think they might have walked out to check things out or something...I was asleep soooo I can't tell you for sure." Taz said as she walked over to him and looked up to look him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry if I didn't say this sooner, but thanks for saving me yesterday." She said modestly.

"It's fine, I'm sure you're friend would do the same for me." He responded.

Taz averted her eyes for a bit, and thought hard about this. What if the situation was reversed? She couldn't tell for sure.

"Yeah, I think should would." She responded.

"You think?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's not like Tanza would go out of her way to abandon you, it's just that defending me is usually her top priority. I mean she would save you, but she would want to help me first." Taz explained.

"You're important to her, I can understand that." Tourmaline said.

"Yeah...it's just that she seems to care for me a lot. If it wasn't for her, I would have died a long time ago. We share experiences with each other and have fun." Taz went on.

"Just the two of you?" He asked.

"...Yeah, I don't think she's ever mentioned anyone else to me." Taz said.

Suddenly, the door to Tanza's room opened and Tanza walked into the other room. She looked over to see Tourmaline and Taz, and then walked up to the two of them. Ignoring Tourmaline, she looked down to Taz.

"I'm heading out for a bit. An artifact appeared, and I need to go grab it. It's too dangerous for you, so I'd like for you to stay here." Tanza said.

"Okay, if you say so!" Taz replied brightly.

"Mind if I come along? I don't really have much else to do." Tourmaline requested.

"Yes, I do. I'd like for you to stay out of my business." Tanza replied coldly.

Tourmaline felt a little hurt by that comment, but decided to bite the bullet and take her comment with pride. Taz saw that Tourmaline was a little upset, and then grabbed Tanza's hand and dragged her away for a second. Tourmaline let them be, and went back into Taz's room.

"Why'd you have to say it like that? That was kind of mean." Taz said.

"I'm just stating the truth, nothing wrong with that." Tanza replied.

"You didn't have to state it so bluntly. He just wants to help after we helped him." Taz went on.  
"We did help him, he doesn't have to do anything else for us." Tanza said.

"He just wants to do more, he's grateful that you did this much for him and wants to help you more is all." Taz explained.

"I...guess that makes sense." She said, "Look Tourmaline, I-".

He was gone. He wasn't in Taz's room, and he wasn't in the room with them either.

"Guess he was a little more hurt than I thought." Taz said.

"I'll say sorry next time I see him. For now, I have more urgent matters to attend to." Tanza stated.

She moved to the warp panel and looked back at Taz. She waved goodbye and went off to find the artifact. Taz waved her off and when she disappeared, she heaved a sigh. Shortly afterwards, the other gems came in, and she decided to talk with them again. They'll keep her mind clear, they seemed to understand her. Not as much as Tanza, but it was still nice to have more friends.

Tanza warped to a barren wasteland. Nothing but bright, sun bleached rock and sand for as far as the eye could see. She looked around for a bit to find where the artifact might be, deciding to go north, following the trail of rocks forming. She summoned her skates and began to move. She slid effortlessly over the misty sand, creating a stream behind her with each stride. Once she made it to the rocks, she found what looked like an ancient temple, blending in perfectly with the surrounding boulders. As she approached it, she slowed down her pace lest she get ambushed like last time. She looked everywhere cautiously and found a few unnerving things. They were corpse of some gem monsters, no longer distinguishable as they had been pulverized and slashed to bits.

"_What could do something like this?_" She asked herself.

She was afraid that she had to find out by going inside the temple. As she went inside, she saw that there was nothing but a large room and a pedestal that once housed an item. There were no traps, no other beasts, those things outside must have been the only security for this place. But that left her with one question: Where is the artifact?

"Took you long enough." She heard a voice say.

She turned around and saw Tourmaline in the doorway, fresh blood on his legs and holding a small orb in one hand. He had the artifact she wanted.

"Wha-When did you get here?!" Tanza shouted at him.

"I snuck to the warp panel while you were talking with Taz, I figured I would take care of this for you." He said as he held up the orb, "Surprised you considered this dangerous and the last mission safe."

Tanza grit her teeth and swallowed her pride. It was probably just a harmless comment but she couldn't help but feel offended by his smug attitude. No matter, she had a few things to attend to.

"Alright then. First I would like to apologize for the comment earlier, I guess you would have been useful on this mission. Now that we have the artifact, we can go back now." Tanza said as she walked up to Tourmaline.

Before she could grab the orb from him, he leapt away from her, landing a good twenty feet backwards.

"Actually no, we can't go back yet. Not until you answer some questions for me." Tourmaline stated.

"What?! What could you possibly want to know!?" Tanza shouted, enraged by being blackmailed.

"Like your motivation to get all of this stuff. Why are you so obsessed with rebuilding a society that died out for a good reason?" Tourmaline asked.

"Died out for-How dare you!? Our society was wiped out due to a massive tragedy! It didn't deserve to die out, so I want to rebuild it now!" Tanza shouted, now even more angry.

"Yeah, right. Even if you could do that, it would be impossible to repopulate our society. We don't give birth, we reincarnate." Tourmaline stated.

Tanza was hurt by this truth. She knew that this was true, but she prayed that there would be a different way to them back. Some of the artifacts could help she hoped, but it wasn't likely. She was reaching her boiling point, and she decided to lash back.

"We'll find a way! What do you know you damn brat!" She screamed at him.

"No...you mean you'll find a way." He said coldly.

His harsh words pierce her heart like an icicle. She wouldn't have this, she refused to be talked down to about her beliefs.

"You know nothing! My motivations for this are pure! And what about yours huh!? What the hell do you want to do in this world!?" She screamed at him, anger taking over.

"I'm looking for someone that I need to talk to. Unlike you I actually focus on the source of the problem instead of spend my time searching for knick-knacks like a hoarder." Tourmaline bluntly said.

"That is…I can't believe how ignorant you are! Have you no pride in your heritage!? Or are you like that hypocritical trio!?" Tanza shouted at him.

With those words Tourmaline tensed up. She didn't have to say their names, he knew exactly who she was talking about.

"What did you say?" He said, as his body tensed up with rage.

"Oh, I guess I hit the nail on the head." She said, a malicious happiness overcoming her, "You are just like them, some wannabe hero trying to 'protect' humans from our magic. It's sad really, to see one of our own fall so far from his roots."

Tourmaline was gripping the orb so hard that it was cracking. Now his anger was rising up.

"You have no idea about my motivations! I honestly could give a damn about what some dumbass would do with an artifact of ours, but I do give a damn when it comes to some stuck-up bitch telling me off when she's so insecure about this new world that she has to try to rebuild it!"

"...You better stop while you're ahead Tourmaline, you wouldn't want to be stuck in your gem for the next week." She said, seething with rage.

"No, I know exactly how you are! You are so afraid of this god damn world that you can't even step outside unless it's for one of these stupid relics!" He shouted, "And these aren't the answer to anything!".

With that, he threw the orb at a boulder, shattering as soon as it touched the solid rock. Tanza stared in disbelief at what just happened, but that didn't last for long. She looked at Tourmaline with a newly kindled anger. She no longer wanted to knock him out for being a rude, cruel bastard, now she just wanted to kill him.

"You have no idea what kind of mistake you made.." She said, summoning her blades.

"I think I made the right choice, seeing as how you need a wake up call to reality!" He shouted as he summoned his weapons.

Tanza skated towards Tourmaline, ready to cleave him in half. She could always say something went wrong on the mission, they'd believe her. With that, she spun around to deliver a massive roundhouse. But it was met with his own. As their legs collided, a large spark of light came to be, followed by a loud sound of metal clashing together. The collision sent them both spinning backwards into a crouch. Tourmaline was the one to make the next move rushing towards Tanza. She quickly recovered and rushed towards him. Tourmaline jumped to do a sidekick, but Tanza quickly dodged it and followed up with a kick to his back. He was sent flying into a pillar, where he slammed his ribs against it. He winced in pain as he fell to the ground, but quickly got up. Tanza was merely feet away from him, and he barely had enough time to avoid the next attack. Her kick sliced clean through the pillar, causing it to fall backwards. As she went to look at him, he delivered a vicious knee to her chin. Her head flew back and her teeth felt like they were going to crack. This pain was then met with a back kick to the chest, sending her back into a boulder. Now her ribs felt like they were cracked. But she refused to let him go.

"Don't underestimate me!" She shouted, giving herself strength.

She knew she was stronger, she had to be stronger. She was more experienced than him, she knew far more than he could ever muster. She had the advantage, so why is she so worried about the outcome of the fight? Throwing her concerns aside, she skated around Tourmaline in a circular pattern. He watched as she went around and around him, getting faster and faster. Then without warning, she turned 90 degrees and rushed towards him a blazing speed. She delivered a massive sidekick to his chest, the blade sinking deep into his flesh as the force of the blow ripped it out and sent him flying. He smashed through a boulder and made a huge indentation in the temple wall, green blood oozing from his open wound. He gripped his chest in pain as he fell to his knees. He definitely had a few broken ribs after a blow like that. Ignoring the pain, he got up and rushed towards her again. This time she dodged and tried to deliver a massive axe kick. However, Tourmaline got close to her, catching the kick with his shoulder. He swept her other leg and grabbed them both as she lost balance. He threw her in the air and met her with an axe kick of his own. The blade sunk into her shoulder and she fell fast back to earth, creating a crater when she landed. Tourmaline landed a few yards away from the crater.

"Why are you so desperate to get this done!?" Tourmaline shouted once more.

"Just shut up about it! You won't understand, you can never understand!" Tanza shouted as she rose out of the pit.

She quickly rushed towards Tourmaline, kneeing him in the stomach. As all the wind was knocked out of him, she grabbed him by the end of his shirt. She raised him to her eye level, letting her see the anger in her face. As she dropped him, she delivered a back kick, sending him backwards bouncing off of the rock. She then skated up to the bounding man and delivered a massive axe kick to his chest. A large explosion of dust and debris formed as Tourmaline was slammed into the ground. He was pinned down with her blade stuck in his chest.

"You know nothing you bastard! The only person I can trust is Topaz, but I need more! I need a place that I can call home! I need to do this so I can't be alone anymore! You understand now!?" She screamed as she pressed harder and harder on his chest.

Tourmaline felt a new sense of shock. Under the pain and anger, a feeling of empathy rose from within him. He knew exactly where she was coming from.

"Yes I do. I know where you're coming from. I've been where you have...which is why I need to give you a wake up call!" He shouted as he pushed her foot out of his chest.

Tanza was surprised at this sudden burst of strength. As much as she resisted, he gave back more force. Soon the blade was removed from his chest, and Tourmaline rolled to the side as she stomped her foot back down. Tourmaline placed his hands behind him and pressed off the ground, delivering a huge kick to her chin, slicing a bit of her face. Before she could recover, he punched her as hard as he could in the stomach, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying into a boulder. She slowly rose to her feet and skated back towards him, circling once again. Tourmaline looked at her, spinning with her, his eyes locked onto her every movement. She turned once again to deliver the finishing blow, but Tourmaline rushed towards her as well. As she spun to deliver a roundhouse to his neck, he headbutted her stomach and grabbed her leg with one hand and butt with the other. The pain and sudden grasp was shocking to her, but before she could react, she was being lifted up into the lifted her high, and then slammed her into the ground with him on top of her, causing the stone to crack and crumble beneath them. He quickly pressed his forearm against her neck and pinned her with his legs. With her arms stuck behind her back, she was at his mercy. The two of them just stayed in that pose, panting, recovering from their fight. After a minute, Tourmaline fell on top of her, and then rolled off., still exhausted. He sat up and Tanza did too. They looked at each other, Tanza's expression now a tired and worn look.

"So now you know the truth...the only reason I want to rebuild the society is so that I can call someplace home.." Tanza said sorrowfully.

"What about your place with Taz?" Tourmaline asked.

"...Taz is all that I have. She gives me the strength to go on with this, to hold on to this life. If it weren't for her, I would never have wanted to be around anyone." She went on, "But what do you know, you have friends...you have a good life.".

"I only got this life a few weeks ago...it's not like I've had it forever." Tourmaline said, slightly irritated.

"And what about your life before that? You trying to relive it? After some tragedy? Please, stop trying to appeal to my situation." She said harshly.

With that, Tourmaline snapped. She grabbed her by the dress, pulled her in and slapped her across the face as hard as he could. A red mark appeared on her cheek as she stared in astonishment at him. Never once in her life had she been smacked.

"Let me make something perfectly clear, we are not the same! Because guess what, I'VE HAD IT MUCH WORSE THAN YOU PROBABLY EVER HAVE!" He screamed at her.

She tried to look away from his angry eyes, but she was then drawn to his torso. She couldn't have gotten a good look at it yesterday due to all the blood, but now she could see it clearly...it was littered with scars.

"Tour-Tourmaline...what happened to your.." She stammered.

Tourmaline looked down to his chest, every scar holding a memory.

"You want to know what these are?! These are the reminders of centuries of abuse and isolation!" He shouted as he got closer to her.

Tanza fell back, and Tourmaline leaned in closer to her face.

"And it doesn't matter how good I am at hiding my miserable past, cause I can never, EVER, forget all the times I was beaten, abandoned and forced to spill blood! Do you get it now!?" He shouted, inches away from her face.

"I...I…" Tanza stuttered, trying her best to grasp all the information given to her. Was he telling the truth? He had to be, the scars were proof enough. She met someone even lonelier than she was.

"I know exactly how you feel. I didn't think it was possible for me to have friends, or even a good life. But now, I have people who care about me...and you have someone who cares about you too. Finding people who care about you doesn't require you to make an entire society...it just takes a little bit of looking around." Tourmaline said calmly as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "I can help you understand this world if you need to learn."

With those words, Tanza let go of her emotions. She shoved her face against his chest and wrapped her arms around him and let it all go. She cried for a what felt like hours, but Tourmaline just held her as she held him. Eventually, her crying stopped, and she looked up at Tourmaline with teary eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, choking back her remaining tears, "Why do you care so much?".

"...Because the thought of someone being as lonely as me makes me depressed. It's a feeling of that no one should bear alone. I don't want anyone else to feel the way I used to." Tourmaline answered.

She held him tighter. The two just laid there motionless for a few minutes. Then Tanza loosened her grip on him. He helped her stand up and the two of them walked over to the panel, not saying anything until they were warping.

"So...would you want to come with us? To see all there is to see in the world, and have some new friends?" Tourmaline asked.

Tanza looked away from him for a minute, thinking hard about the decision that she was about to make.

Back at the house, the girls were laughing and talking once again. Each of them wore a smile and were enjoying their company. Their fun times however, were interrupted by the room lighting up from the warp panel. Tourmaline and Tanza appeared, looking like wrecks.

"Oh geez guys what happened to you?" Taz asked.

"We...ran into a snag on the mission, and lost the artifact." Tourmaline said, hoping the lie would be enough.

"Yeah...sad to say." Tanza followed up.

"Alright then." Sapphire said.

The two gems sat down at the bed and Taz looked at her new friends and back to Tanza.

"So I take it it's time for them to go, huh?" She said, sulkingly

Tanza looked at the young gem, her sad expression knowing that she'd have to say goodbye to her friends. Then she remembered Tourmaline's offer...she knew the answer.

"Yes...and we're going along with them." Tanza said with a smile.

Taz nearly fell off the bed she was so surprised. She stared at her mentor with a deer in the headlights expression. After a few seconds, it quickly changed to a beaming smile. She climbed over and gave her mentor the biggest hug she could.

"Thank you Thank you THANK YOU!" She shouted exuberantly, "Oh, I gotta go grab a few things before we go!".

"Chalk that up to another heart he has swayed." Ruby said to her friends as they chuckled.

Tanza helped her friend get her things ready. The others waited at the warp panel to go back to whatever place they would find their next adventure. Taz came back with a stuffed backpack and Tanza had one as well, with a few artifacts that she couldn't leave behind.

"You don't have to bring all that stuff with you. We can always warp back home to get something if we need it." Tanza explained.

"Yeah but we don't know when that'll be!" Tanza said excitedly.

"I suppose you're right Taz." Tanza said with a smile.

"I suppose you're right Taz." Tourmaline said trying to imitate Tanza, "You're so close minded Tanza, good thing you're so cute." He followed up in a playful tone.

"I...are you messing with me?" Tanza said nervously as she blushed.

"Aww you're blushing, that's even cuter!" Tourmaline said.

"This coming from the guy that's been blushing every time he's been alone with me." Tanza shot back.

"YOU NOTICED!?" Tourmaline blurted out loud.

"Actually, I just said that to save face. Good to see the feeling's mutual." Tanza said with a smug grin on her face, still light purple from the compliment Tourmaline gave her.

Tourmaline looked at her with a small hue of green on his face, the two walked up and stood next to each other, still looking each other in the eyes.

"Oh I can tell we're going to have a lot of fun with you guys." Ruby said with a grin.

With that, they group teleported to away, to whatever mysterious land they hoped to find. Tourmaline looked up at Tanza, and Tanza looked down to him. She gave him a sincere smile, and he gave her one right back. Tanza felt a glow of happiness inside of her, for she knew for sure that she was no longer as lonely as she thought she was.


	6. Chapter 6:The Great Boneyard

Chapter 6: The Great Boneyard

The dust was blown into the air, disgruntling the focused Tourmaline. He shook his head and then rubbed his eyes, getting any and all dust out of his face. Removing his hands from his face, he looked on to see a field of crystal and bone. Skeletons of old gems were strewn all over the dead plain. He looked behind to see all of his friends following close behind. Ruby and Tanzanite were talking amongst themselves, with Ruby most likely comforting Tanzanite in this morbid area, whilst Sapphire and Tanza were looking all over the field, scanning for any and all life. Taz however was clinging to Tanza. He couldn't blame her, no kid likes to walk through graveyards, let alone a battlefield of long forgotten corpses. Tanza suggested coming here as one of the bodies may hold artifacts that she could use. He still didn't understand why she continued to focus on collecting these things, but it's hard to break a habit, especially if you've done it for centuries.

"Tourmaline stay with us! You have no idea what could be lurking here." Sapphire demanded.

"Yeah I'm sure there are plenty of predators that would want to eat these raw bones!" He shot back.

With that he continued forward, Sapphire shaking her head as the others followed.

"Is he always like this?" Tanza asked.

"Annoyingly enthusiastic? Yes." Sapphire said with a sigh.

Tanza looked at Tourmaline, poking and prodding old skeletons, looking for loot.

"He really knows how to put on a nice show for you guys." Tanza said with a smile.

"Hmm? What do you mean by that?" Ruby asked.

"Oh nothing." Tanza responded, "Topaz are you okay?".

"Oh yes, just peachy!" She said excitedly.

Tanzanite looked down at the young girl, holding onto Tanza's leg. Taz looked up at her and they exchanged the same uncomfortable look.

"Good to know you guys are perfectly fine, don't want you flipping off the handle if we encounter a bunch of gem zombies" Ruby said teasingly.

"Those are a thing!?" Taz shouted, tightening her grip on Tanza's leg.

"Yeah, they're the undead gems. They don't use gems but they still are hard to beat. You have to crush where their original gem was or they won't die. And if they even touch your gem, you'll turn into one too!" Ruby said in a devilish tone.

"Oh wow that's...nothing. I'm not scared of no zombies, I'm not scared at all." Taz said nervously.

"Yeah...same here." Tanzanite said in the same sheepish tone.

"You two saying it like that doesn't make it sound more convincing." Tanza said, "Especially considering there's no such thing as gem zombies.".

"Oh come on! You party pooper!" Ruby exclaimed as she looked at Tanza.

"Wait, what?" The two girls said in unison.

"Yeah, that's just utter garbage. I mean, "gem zombies"? That's just dumb." Tanza said in a stern tone, "You two have seen too many horror movies."

The two girls surprised expression turned to one of relief and embarrassment. Ruby giggled to herself. She hoped to keep the gag going for a little while longer, but this was satisfying enough. The girls kept going on, looking around the forsaken place, trying to find Tourmaline.

"_I need to put a leash on that guy, before he gets used to this stupid habbi-" _

Ruby's thought was interrupted as a large creature popped out from underneath a pile of bones. It's face was horrid and mangled, and it's body was revolting. It let out a loud shriek and made all of the girls jump back and scream. Taz jumped straight into Tanza's arms. Before they could summon their weapons, the creature let out a familiar laugh. In a shine of green light, the creature morphed into Tourmaline, snickering with a large grin on his face.

"Oh man, heh heh, that was great!" He chuckled, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"That's not funny!" Ruby shouted as she pushed him to the ground.

"Yeah, your reaction wasn't the best, but oh man Taz and Tanza were the best!"

Tanza averted her eyes, slightly blushing. She didn't want to admit it, but he got her, in front of Topaz no less.

Tourmaline got to his feet, chuckling to himself, and walked away, the others following close behind.

"So what is the deal with this place anyway? Was there a war or something?" Tourmaline asked.

"Sort of. This place was the fighting ground for one of the biggest slaughters in gem history. There was a great war between the gems, each side had different ideals and plans for our future. The fighting lasted for decades, and it awoke something. A great beast was born from the bloodshed, with the intent of destroying us all. It was stopped of course but not without some great power. The sides joined forces to save themselves from this monster, and thus the battle for the gems future took place here." Tanza explained.

Tourmaline stopped dead in his tracks. His happy expression draining from his face as his eyes opened wide and his smile changed into a shocked expression. He just froze for what felt like hours, days even. He just stared ahead at the sight of the skeletons, all a reminder of what his mother told him. He probably would have stayed like that for weeks, if it wasn't for a wake up call to reality.

"Tourmy? Dude you alright?" Ruby asked concerned.

He shook his head and looked at her.

"Uh...yeah I'm fine…" He answered, his mind floating between thoughts.

She looked at him for a second, and then walked ahead of him.

He let the others walk ahead of him. He looked around behind him one last time, and walked slowly behind them.

"So where is this beast? Did it poof away when it was killed or what?" Taz asked enthusiastically.

"It's still here." Tanza answered.

"What!? Where!?" Tourmaline shouted.

The others looked at him, surprised at his sudden outburst. He relaxed after seeing the others stare at him. "I mean...where is it then?".

"There." Tanza divulged as she pointed at a large hill.

"It's behind that black hill? Is it buried there?" Ruby asked.

"No, it is the hill. That's just it's back." Tanza elaborated.

The others stared in awe and horror as they realized that large hill was a gargantuan back piece, completely black. Tourmaline starred in pure astonishment.

"That's just it's back!? This thing is enormous!" Taz said in amazement.

Tourmaline quickly ran to scale the body. He leapt onto the back, gripping on the rough, cracked surface. He continued to climb the great beast as the others quickly followed behind. Ruby summoned her swords with the intent of using them to make her climb easier.

"That isn't going to work." Tanza said sceptically.

Ignoring her friend, she lept up raising her swords behind her, prepping herself to stab into the mountainous carapace. She brought the swords crashing into the bony surface, and the two swords instantly shattered. Ruby's body slammed against the surface and she fell of the wall and right onto the ground. She shook her head and looked up to see the others quickly scaling the wall normally. She shook off her fall and climbed the wall with a newfound vigor.

Tourmaline made it to the top of the huge body. He looked down to see a great load of ribs protruding from the back, stretching out like a great rake. A few ribs seemed to be broken off as they ended in a sharp jagged end. He looked to his left to see three large, skeletal tails, all ending in an impaling spike. He shook to himself as he turned to his right to run to hopefully see the creature's face. The evidence was piling up but he kept trying to convince himself that it couldn't be it.

He leapt from the creature's neck and slammed into the ground. It was only a ten foot fall, so he quickly shook it off and turned. As soon as he turned, he froze in terror. He looked at two, gaping jaws, connected from the bottom jaw of the first one (or the top jaw of the other half), filled with large teeth like pikes. He just stared at it, and he felt a great roar echo through his body. He was trembling. And then he saw a glimmer on one of the monster's teeth. Before he could move, the others jumped down to see him.

"Man this thing is big. Not as big as I thought at first, but still massive." Ruby said.

"It's quite the sight." Tanzanite said.

"Yeah, it's pretty interesting huh Tourmaline?" Sapphire exclaimed.

He just remained silent, and ran past the others towards the gleaming object. The other's followed quickly, their concern higher than before. Something was bothering Tourmaline, and they wanted to know what.

"Tourmaline what the hell is your problem!?" Ruby shouted as she followed behind him, "You've been acting weird ever since Tanza told you about this thing, what's your deal?!".

Ignoring his friends, he jumped between the giant teeth, desperate to see what that gleam was. A few more leaps and he was upon the object. It was just a shard of emerald. Nothing special, it didn't even look like it belonged to a gem. He heaved a sigh of relief and then realized that his dad was thrown from the monster, he looked back towards where he was and that's when he saw another glow. He jumped once again, over the others and rushed towards the thing. He slid to his knees and uncovered the shining thing. It was a square piece of jade, with a large hole in it. He knew what it was. The others quickly surrounded him.

"Alright that's enough of this game Tourmaline!" Ruby shouted at him angrily.

"Tell us what's going on." Taz asked calmly.

"We're your friends, you can tell us anything." Tanzanite said comfortingly.

"Just talk to us." Tanza demanded.

Tourmaline ignored them. He was just kneeling there, looking at the destroyed gem. He started to shake uncontrollably, tears began to well up in his eyes.

"So this is where you are…" He said to the gem.

The others leaned in closer to hear what he was saying.

"This is where you are...this is where you died...this is where it all ended...huh dad." He said to himself.

The other's looked at him, shocked. How did he know that was his dad? This was why he was acting odd? Tourmaline sobbed to himself. He finally found his dad...but not the way he wanted to, no one wanted to see this.

Ruby and Tanza put a hand on his back. They looked at him with sympathy for their friend. He stayed like that for an hour, just clutching the stone to his chest. His friends stayed around him, hoping to help him feel better once he was done. He finally stopped, and raised to his feet, still looking down.

"..Are you sure that's your dad?" Ruby asked.

Tourmaline nodded.

"You know how he died?" Ruby continued.

Tourmaline nodded.

"...Do you want to go back home?" Tanza asked.

Tourmaline shook his head.

"What do you want then?" Tanza continued.

"...I need to find someone." Tourmaline said.

"Who?" Sapphire asked.

"A gem by the name of Rose Quartz." Tourmaline answered.

With that, Sapphire stepped back. Of all the people he could have said, why would it be her? The others stared at him in surprise. Rose was a famous gem, why would he want to meet her?

"Why do you need to see her?" Tanza asked.

"I know she was here with my dad...I need to know more, and only she can help me.

The others looked at each other uneasily, but came to a silent agreement.

"Alright, our next mission is to find Rose." Ruby declared.

"But for now, we should head back to the temple, you need some rest." Tanza said, gently grabbing one of Tourmaline's hands.

"Okay…" He said somberly.

The gems walked away from the great beast and back to the warp panel. Tourmaline looked back one last time at the monster, and gripped his father's gem tightly.

"_This is going to come to an end. No more questions, no more anger, I'm going to end this once and for all._" He thought to himself.

Back at the temple, the gems had retired to bed. Tanza went into her room,and Tanzanite, Ruby, Sapphire, and Taz were fast asleep. Everyone but Tourmaline. He just sat at the warp panel, arms crossed, looking at the sleeping gems. He didn't want to sleep, he didn't want to see that thing in his head, he didn't even want to see his mother. All he wanted to do was be alone with what was left of his dad. He rose to his feet and quietly walked out of the room. He walked through the doorway and came back to the other empty room, to his side was Tanza's door, to the other was another door. He walked towards the other one and was about to head out, until he heard the other door open behind him. Tanza walked out, looking right at him.

"Don't you think it's too late for a walk?" She asked.

"I...I just need to be alone for a bit." He replied.

She walked slowly towards him.

"What you need, is to relax here. You went through something...traumatic I guess, and you need to stay here and let your mind take it all in." .

"I've sat for hours pondering and thinking, I know I've taken it all in.".

"...How do you know that's your dad anyway?" She asked.

"My mom told me about him, when I was stuck in my gem once. His name was Jade, and this is Jade. The hole...it matches the shape of the teeth." He explained.

She placed her hand on his shoulder, and he turned his gaze away.

"And if we do find Rose...what are you going to ask her?" She continued.

He hesitated for a second. He thought about what he wanted ask, to say to her, but he couldn't think of anything.

"I...I don't know. I don't know what exactly I want to ask, but I know for sure that I need to see her." He answered, "I need some sort of closure to all of this.".

"What if she isn't here anymore?"

"...Then I guess I turn to the other three."

She stepped back a bit and looked at him surprised.

"Wh-what other three?" She asked exasperated.

"Her students or friends I guess. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. They were at the battle, they might have known my dad, I should be fine with them." He explained.

The very thought of seeing those three again made her skin crawl, especially after what they did to her. But if Tourmaline needed to see them...then so be it.

"Alright...how do you think we're going to find them?"

"I don't know...but they have to be out there somewhere. Do you have any maps? They're probably in a gem temple." Tourmaline asked.

"I might have a map or two lying around. I'll look for them while you rest." She offered.

"Alright then.." He complied.

Tanza escorted him to the room, everyone was still asleep. The young gem lied down next to the bed, trying not to disturb the others. He turned away and then Tanza went to her room to find a map of any and all temples. Tourmaline just lied on the floor, looking at the wall. He didn't want to sleep, but at least the thought of him resting will make Tanza feel better.

Morning came. Tourmaline remained motionless. He had been staring at the wall all night. There were times where he wanted to sleep, but his mind wouldn't let him. He couldn't go out because he didn't want to wake the others or make Tanza worried. He was stuck where he was. At least now he had an excuse to get up. He got up and stretched out, lying on the floor didn't feel too good, but it would go away as the day went on. With a few tired yawns, the others woke up. He exited the room and went towards Tanza's room. He knocked on the door and waited for her to come. The others followed behind after a short moment, still half asleep. Each one gave their good mornings and Tourmaline warmly returned them. Just then, the door opened and Tanza stepped out with an ancient scroll in hand.

"...You didn't get any sleep last night did you?" Tanza interrogated.

"How can you tell?" Tourmaline replied.

"You still have the same tired expression that you did last night." She said as she walked by him.

"I tried to, honest." He defended.

"Sure.." She said as she rolled her eyes.

"He just doesn't like to sleep." Ruby explained, "But anyways, what do you have there?".

"It took some digging, but I found a map that just might help us." Tanza answered.

She took the dusty old parchment and spread it out on the floor. It was a huge world map with X's marked all over different countries, some with checks next to them. This had to be of all the temples in the world.

"This map will make finding Rose a lot easier. I've already checked off any and all temples that I've already explored, so that only leaves a handful for us to check. The only issue with this being that these locations might have changed as the years went on." Tanza explained.

"And that's where I can pick up." Taz said happily as she pulled out her laptop, "I can just pull up a current map and we can see what has changed based on the locations on this map!".

"Very clever Topaz." Tanza said with a smile.

Taz let out a satisfied giggle and the others observed the map. Tourmaline scanned the map, and his eye was drawn to one near the coastline of what appeared to be North America.

"Hey, what about this one?" He asked as he pointed at the mark.

"Hmm, hold on a second." Taz said as she tapped away at the keys, "Alright, that place is apparently named "Beach City". It's a little town by the beach, if that wasn't obvious, and apparently it has a pretty big sight." She said as she turned the laptop to the others.

On the screen, there was a huge statue of a multi-armed woman sitting in a buddhist meditative style. It looked nothing like any deity humans could have known, so the answer was obvious.

"This place definitely has a temple." Taz declared.

"But is it abandoned? If the humans colonized the area, it can't have gems there right?" Ruby asked.

"It sure isn't. A lot of weird happenings go on over there and they definitely seem like gem activity. Weird bugs, ocean monsters, all sorts of accounts of stuff happens there." Taz continued.

"How do you know about this stuff?" Sapphire asked.

"A resident apparently has been keeping track of this stuff. He posts about it on his blog "Keep Beach City Weird"." Taz answered.

"Well that's convenient." Tourmaline said drolly.

"Yeah, and he says that these things are stopped by a trio of superheroes. I think we've found them already." Taz said as she closed her laptop.

"Then it's settled then, we go to Beach City." Tanzanite declared.

"Yeah!" Ruby shouted.

"...Right, sure." Sapphire said uneasily.

"Lets get it done." Tanza said.

"So Tourmy, when do you want to leave?" Taz asked.

Tourmaline looked at the piece of jade. After a moment, he looked back up to the others.

"Immediately." He said in a serious tone.

The other gems then walked towards the warp panel, ready to go. Tourmaline followed behind them but was stopped by Tanza.

"Before we go, I found something that you might want." She said.

She reached into her suit and pulled out a ribbon. It was silver and had an interesting shine to it.

"I found this as well. I figured I could tie it around that jade so you won't have to carry it all the time." She explained, "May I?".

She placed her palm out, silently asking for the gem. Tourmaline hesitated, but gave his father's gem to her. She weaved the ribbon through the hole in the gem and caused it to glow. The ribbon's ends met together and formed a perfect circle. The glowing stopped, and Tanza placed the newly made necklace onto Tourmaline.

"Thank you Tanza...this means a lot to me." He said.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and he looked up at her.

"You don't have to thank me for anything." She said soothingly.

With those words, she went off to meet the others. Tourmaline slid the gem under his shirt and followed behind her. The others were waiting for him, all ready for action. He stepped in between Tanza and Ruby and was ready to go.

"We're not going to appear right in Beach City, but we'll only be a mile or two away from it." Tanza explained.

"Good enough for me." Tourmaline said confidently.

"Alright, lets do this." Tanza said.

The panel lit up, and the gems were overcome by the same familiar light. They all looked up and awaited to see what would happen next. The gems then looked at Tourmaline, his face looking up with the same, steadfast expression he always had when he was serious.

"_This is it. The time has come to put everything to rest._" He thought to himself.

As they soared through the warp zone, the piece of broken jade glowed lightly against Tourmaline's chest**.** His concentration temporarily broken, he looked down, but the glow was gone. He ignored it and went back to looking ahead, readying himself for his meeting with Rose and the others.


	7. Chapter 7: Reunion

Chapter 7: Reunion

The house was still as the morning sun approached. The sun shined through the windows, sweet, salty, sea air wafted throughout the house, and a young boy has just awoken from his sleep. His poofy hair was frizzled even more, and he was still half asleep by the time he sat up. He got out of bed and walked towards the dresser. He pulled out a red T-shirt with a yellow star on it, a pair of small jeans, and a pair of underwear. He turned around and walked down the stairs and to the bathroom. He reached up to the cup on the sink to grab his toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. He placed a dab on his brush and began to clean his teeth. After a minute of brushing, he took a sip of water and spat out the remaining white foam. He took off his PJ top and looked down. He stared at the bright pink gem on his chubby belly and smiled a little. He got changed into his outfit and exited the bathroom. The house was still empty, so he decided to make himself some breakfast. He climbed onto the counter, opened the cupboard and grabbed a box of cereal. Carefully, he slid off the counter and opened the fridge to grab some milk for his cereal. He was ready for his first meal of the day, when he realized that he forgot to grab a bowl while he was up there.

"_This always happens Steven. You go straight for the gold but forget to have something to carry it all._" The young boy thought to himself.

He jumped back onto the counter once more and shimmied over to the cupboard with the bowls and other plates. He opened the cupboard and grabbed a small bowl with a smile on his face. He was ready for his cereal but in his excitement, he stepped on a rag and slipped on it. He almost fell off the counter but was stopped by someone. He regained his balance and stared into the face of his saviour. Her ricotta skin was made more evident by the light, her turquoise eyes looking at Steven with a concerned look on her face. She brushed away a strand of her soft orange hair and spoke.

"Steven! What have I told you about making yourself breakfast?" The pale gem scolded.

"It's fine as long as I am aware of my surroundings?" Steven replied.

"And what just happened?" She asked sternly.

"I forgot that the dish towel was on the counter and slipped on it?" Steven again answered.

"Yes, and if I wasn't here you could have gotten hurt. Next time you want breakfast just wait for me okay?" She requested.

"Aww but Pearl! I don't know when you or Garnet or Amethyst come here! You're so random sometimes." Steven complained.

"Well I'm sorry Steven but if you're going to end up hurting yourself you leave me no choice." Pearl replied as she made Steven's cereal, "Here you go.".

With that, Steven lightened up with a big smile. He grabbed the bowel and Pearl handed him a spoon. He grabbed it from her and gave her another smile, "Thank you!".

With that began to shovel spoonfuls of the his favorite cereal into his mouth, careful to eat properly. Pearl taught him proper table manners, and he knows how much it disappoints her when he doesn't follow them, so he tries his best. As he continued to eat, a strand of red light drew itself across the door across the room. The door separated into three pieces and opened, revealing a tall muscular gem with a skinny waist and large afro. The tall gem wore a and a red black jumpsuit and a yellow visor that covered her eyes, leaving a reddish-brown nose and sweet luscious lips underneath. She was accompanied by a short, lilac colored gem. Her long lavender hair dragged on the ground, past her purple top and black pants with star shaped holes in them.

"Hey Steven!" The short girl shouted cheerfully.

"Good morning." The tall woman said in a smooth tone.

"Morning Garnet and Amethyst!" Steven replied back.

The two walked past the warp pad between the door and the kitchen and approached Pearl.

"So how's the situation?" Pearl asked.

"It's big, but should be easy to stop with proper preparation." Garnet explained.

"What's big? How's what situation?" Steven asked as he continued to eat.

"There's this huge monster approaching Beach City. We have no idea what it is but it won't be a problem, so long as we're ready for it." Garnet continued.

"Wooaaah! So we're gonna have a huge fight with this thing!?" Steven said as he pumped himself up.

"Yes, WE are. YOU are to stay in the temple." Pearl commanded.

"What, why?" Steven asked.

"This is a threat that we cannot take lightly. We have to stop it while it's in the water. If it reaches land, it'll be far more difficult to take down. This requires complete focus. One wrong move, and the situation will become infinitely worse." Garnet explained.

"Couldn't you just take the gem sloop out and take it out at sea?" Steven asked.

"We thought of that, and it's too risky. It can easily escape in deep water, so we have to catch it at the shoreline. Our timing has to be perfect." Pearl answered.

"You'll kind of get in the way Steven." Amethyst stated bluntly.

"Amethyst!" Pearl snapped.

"What, it's true. Don't take it the wrong way Steven, when we're on missions together we have a lot of fun, but this is a super serious situation." Amethyst explained.

"I can be serious!" Steven pouted.

"Be that as it may we can't afford to keep an eye on you while combating this thing." Pearl politely stated.

"Awww...alright." Steven said.

"Don't get mopey, I set up a chair outside for you. You'll get to see everything! Just...don't do anything, okay?" Amethyst said.

"Oh, okay! When's this thing coming anyway?"

"Tomorrow afternoon." Garnet stated, "Today is about preparations.".

"Okay, then I'ma go into town and do stuff while you guys work on your business!" Steven said as he ran up the stairs.

The gems looked at each other for a second and Steven came back down with a sock full of coins.

"Where ya gonna go?" Amethyst asked.

"To the Funland Arcade!" Steven declared.

"You're still allowed in there after what happened?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, I cleaned up and paid off my debts. Mr. Smiley gave me a second chance. I'll see you later!" He said as he ran out the door.

"...He took that well." Amethyst said.

"He understands the circumstances." Garnet added.

"Alright then, lets get to work." Pearl declared.

With that the gems walked out the door and onto the deck. The sky was a shade of blue hanging over Beach City, the air was still, not even a breeze caressed the gems. Miles away across the sea, dark clouds were beginning to form.

"Did the weather channel ever mention something about a storm?" Pearl asked.

"If it did, I didn't see it. The news is boring." Amethyst replied.

"Something tells me that our mystery beast is stronger than I previously thought." Garnet stated.

"It's creating an entire storm? What kind of magic does this thing have?" Pearl asked nervously.

"I'm not sure, but one things for certain, there is no way we can fight it out there. That storm will tear the sloop apart." Garnet explained.

"Geez, and here I thought this was going to be easy. If I knew this is what we were dealing with I would have put off my rest and snack time." Amethyst whined.

"There's no time for that now. We have to start preparing now." Garnet commanded.

"It's going to be a busy couple of days, that's for sure." Amethyst said.

Tourmaline looked at the people walking along the sidewalk. Happy, not a care in their world, just enjoying the day. He wishes that he could enjoy his time here, but his business comes first. With his friends beside him, he continued to search for the crystal trio. Ruby was just as determined as he was, as was Tanzanite. Tanza and Sapphire seemed uncomfortable, and Taz was beaming with excitement. It was always fun for her to meet new people I suppose, despite any and all circumstances.

They came to the end of the sidewalk. Across the street was a beautiful beach. White sand shimmered in the sun and the clear blue sea sparkled like a million diamonds. Storm clouds rolled in far across the sea, but it didn't look like they were coming here anytime soon. As Tourmaline stepped forward to cross the street, a young boy ran past him, causing him to step back. The boy looked back, realizing what he did.

"Sorry about that!" He said as he continued on.

He turned around and ran with a sack of what sounded like coins in his hand. Tourmaline stared at him for a few seconds. There was something about that kid. A familiar feeling, something about him interested him.

Ruby snapped him out of his daze, "Tourmaline? What's up?".

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just something about that kid." Tourmaline answered.

"What do you mean?" Sapphire asked.

"I don't know...just something about him. He feels...I don't know." Tourmaline continued.

"Well whatever, lets focus on our goal here." Tanza stated.

"Yeah, you're right." Tourmaline said.

The group crossed the street to the beach. If the crystal trio would be anywhere, it would be on the beach. To their left was a shipyard and the rest of the city, to their right was a large cliff. The group went to the right to hopefully find the other gems. As they walked alongside the jagged walls of the cliff, they spotted some people. Three women, all in odd attire, looking out at the sea. There was no doubt about it, they found the crystal trio.

"That's them alright. That's Rose's group; Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl." Tanza stated.

"But where's Rose? I don't see her." Sapphire said nervously.

Taz was about to run up to meet them but was stopped by Tanza.

"Topaz we can't just rush at them, we need to approach this carefully." Tanza said.

"I agree." Sapphire added.

"Why's that?" Taz asked.

"Yeah, why?" Ruby and Tanzanite repeated.

"...Alright here's the deal. I've known the gems for a long time. I was raised by them, but something...unfortunate happened along the way and I ran away. This will be the first time I've seen them in decades, and I doubt they'll be happy to see me." Sapphire explained.

"Unfortunate?" Taz repeated.

"I don't want to talk about it." Sapphire said dismissively.

"I'm not on the best grounds with them either. Not like you Sapphire, but more of a bad first impression." Tanza added.

"Wait what!? Why haven't you told me about this!?" Taz shouted at her.

"I knew it would upset you but I couldn't let you know. They were going to destroy an artifact I was looking for, I got angry and tried to take it by force." Tanza explained.

"I can't believe-!"

"Enough! I get it, you two have had it rough with them but you have to remember that this is about TOURMALINE." Ruby snapped.

The two gems looked at the young girl and nodded.

"You're right. So how are we going to do this?" Tanza asked.

"I'll go up with Tanzanite. It'll be easiest if we go first and talk to them and introduce you all. After that we'll have Tourmaline ask his questions and be on our way." Ruby elaborated.

"Uhhh, Ruby?" Tanzanite uttered as she pointed towards the trio.

The group looked in the direction she was pointing in to see Tourmaline already behind the gems, still oblivious to stared in awe for a brief second, and Ruby let out an annoyed groan.

"Or we could let Tourmaline break the ice and improvise!" She angrily exclaimed.

The group began to run towards Tourmaline, now appearing to talk with the crystal trio, hoping to keep the situation calm.

"Shouldn't we let him talk?" Taz asked.

"We should but I'm not sure about him. He might act like...well himself." Ruby answered.

"I don't think he'd do that. He's very serious about this." Tanza replied.

"Well maybe not but we're gonna have to talk to them anyway, so lets just get this over with!" Ruby shouted.

The crystal gems were staring out towards the storm clouds. Garnet observed the waves while Pearl looked on through her telescope. Amethyst was sitting in the sand, waiting for her turn with the telescope.

"Anything yet?" Amethyst asked.

"Hard to tell, it's so dark over there." Pearl answered.

"Then what's the point of even looking through the telescope?" Amethyst continued.

"I don't know maybe the creature will come up for air and I can catch a glimpse of it. Some kind of clue about this thing would be helpful." Pearl explained.

"Really? The whole 'brings a storm with it' thing not a big enough hint for you?" Amethyst said sarcastically.

"Well maybe it's just an actual storm and we're overreacting, I don't know!" Pearl replied, irritated by Amethyst's comment.

"You overreacting? That's a shocker." Amethyst continued, rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me!? I do not overreact to anything! You just underreact to everything!" Pearl snapped.

"Well maybe that's because I'm not as uptight as you!" Amethyst snapped back.

"Enough!" Garnet said in a stern tone.

The two gems silenced themselves and looked away from each other.

"The waves are moving irregularly. It's moving faster than I expected." Garnet stated.

"How much time do we have then?" Pearl asked.

"It should be here by nightfall." Garnet answered.

"There's not enough time." Pearl said horrified.

"There's enough time. We just need to get started now." Garnet reassured her.

"Um, excuse me?" They heard a young man's voice behind them.

The three gems turned to lock eyes with a tan young man, eyes green as grass. He stood there, in an uneasy stance.

"Uh, hello. Is there something we can help you with?" Pearl asked calmly.

"I have some questions for you." The young man replied sternly.

"What questions could you possibly have for us?" Pearl continued.

"Uh, Pearl? Take a look." Amethyst said as she pointed towards the boy's legs.

Pearl and Garnet looked down to see two large green gems embedded into the boy's legs. Pearl and Garnet stared at him in disbelief.

"You're...you're a gem." Pearl said flabbergasted.

"I...yes. My name is Tourmaline." Tourmaline stated.

"Hello Tourmaline." Garnet said, "What exactly do you need to know?".

"I...I need to know about my fa-".

"Hold it!" Ruby shouted, interrupting Tourmaline.

Tourmaline and the gems looked towards the motley crew running towards crystal trio's surprise raised even further. The group ran up to Tourmaline and faced the crystal gems. Garnet Amethyst and Pearl stared at the young red haired girl and her friends. They saw Tanzanite, Taz nearly bursting with excitement, Tanza standing uneasily...and then Sapphire.

"Sapphire!?" Garnet exclaimed.

"Hello Garnet…" Sapphire replied nervously.

"I...how dare you show your face here. After what happened all those years ago you have the nerve to just waltz back in here and-" Pearl yelled at her until Amethyst stopped her from chewing her out even further.

"What are you doing here Sapphire." Amethyst asked coldly.

"Trust me, I wouldn't be anywhere near you if it weren't for Tourmaline." Sapphire replied.

"And I take it he knows about the incident?" Pearl brought up.

"He doesn't need to know about that!" Sapphire replied angrily, "And I've moved past that incident. I may have not acted like I cared back then but I do now! I regret that day and I wish I could change it, but I can't.".

"Caring about it now won't bring those people back." Pearl said coldly.

"Neither will arguing about it." Sapphire said.

Pearl opened her mouth to yell again, but felt Garnet's hand on her shoulder. She closed her mouth and looked up at her leader.

"It's...good to see your still here." Garnet said.

Sapphire averted her eyes. Tanza was the next to step forward.

"Considering were just putting this out in the open, we might as well get my case out now." She said calmly.

"Yes, lets discuss what you did….you." Amethyst said confused.

"Wait, you don't remember me?" Tanza said, mildly offended.

"Uhhhhh." Amethyst uttered as she scratched her head.

"The big fight a few decades ago? I wanted an artifact that you were about to destroy. I fought with Garnet?" Tanza explained.

"Oh yeah! That was an awesome fight! I wanted to give Garnet a high five after that sweet match, but Pearl said it would be inappropriate." Amethyst said.

"That artifact was far too dangerous to let anyone hold. I told you that. So have you learned your lesson?" Garnet asked.

Tanza was boiling at this point. How dare they talk down to her about her humiliation. But she knew this was important to her friend, so she swallowed her pride and changed the subject.

"This isn't about me. This is about our friend." Tanza said calmly.

"Yeah, go on Tourmaline." Tanzanite said.

Tourmaline looked away from his friends and back to the crystal gems, all of them staring directly at him.

"I...I'd like to speak with Rose." Tourmaline demanded.

The gems reeled back. A pained expression spread across each of their faces. They looked at each other and after a few seconds, looked back to Tourmaline.

"I'm sorry...but Rose is no longer with us…" Pearl said somberly.

Tourmaline and Sapphire's eyes widened. Tourmaline took a step back and Sapphire raised a hand to her mouth. The others stared at them with empathy.

"No...how. How is this possible!?" Tourmaline shouted.

"She had a son. When he was born, she passed her gem along to him...killing her." Garnet explained, choking on her last words.

"I...no...Rose." Sapphire whispered to herself.

Tanzanite looked at Sapphire's pained expression, tears welling up in her eyes. "Sapphire?".

"No...I...I have to go!" Sapphire shouted as she ran off towards the town.

Ruby placed a hand on Tourmaline's shoulder.

"I know this is disappointing but you can at least ask them." She reassured him.

"I know that but it's just...I mean...DAMN IT!" He shouted as he ran towards the boatyard.

"Tourmaline wait!" She shouted at him, "No.".

The crystal trio stared at the remaining girls, all looking at their fleeing friends. Their sadness from remembering Rose was replaced with a new empathy for the young girls.

"I'm sorry to say this, but if you have nothing to say to us now, you have to lea-" Pearl said before Amethyst dragged her and Garnet away from the group.

"Amethyst what is your problem!" She shouted at her.

"Shhhhh, keep your voice down." Amethyst shushed.

"What do you want?" Garnet asked.

"I just got a great idea!" She answered.

"Oh no." Pearl said.

"Look, this monster is coming fast right? So we might not be entirely prepared for this thing. But if we had some extra help, it'll be a breeze!".

"This doesn't involve them!" Pearl snapped.

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought protecting humans was A gem's duty, not just ours." Amethyst replied snarkily.

"She has a point." Garnet added.

"Hmmm, well I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask." Pearl wondered.

"That's the spirit!" Amethyst said excitedly.

The trio walked back towards the other gems. They all turned to face them, their worried expressions still on.

"Hey, would you like to come back to our home for a bit? We have a bit of a situation and we'd like you to help if you can." Pearl asked.

Tourmaline sat at the docks, staring at the boats, confused and angry. He came all this way to see Rose, and for what? Just her lackeys. What would they know? Her mother said he was closer to Rose anyway. On the other hand, he regretted just running off, leaving his friends behind like that.

"_I should have asked them about dad, I should have taken it better. Stupid. Stupid! STUPID!_" He shouted at himself.

He flopped back and grabbed his hair, and let out a frustrated scoff. His scoff turned into a louder groan as he rolled on the hot boards and then, just flopped out and stared at the sky.

"Hey, you alright?" A kid's voice asked him.

Tourmaline turned his head to see a young boy wearing a red shirt with a star on it looking down on him. Tourmaline took a second but realized that it was the kid from before, still holding that bag.

"Uh yeah, I'm fine." Tourmaline said.

"My friends say it's not good to lie about how you feel." The boy replied.

"...Smart friends. I guess I'm doing relatively bad." Tourmaline said solemnly.

"Aww, why's that? Wanna talk about it?" He offered as he sat down on the dock next to him.

"It's beyond your grasp kid." Tourmaline said looking away from the kid.

"I can grasp it! I can firmly grasp it!" He whined.

Tourmaline sighed. "I don't think you can. It's about family.".

"Oh...I guess so. All I have is my dad, so I'd only know half of what you're talking about." The kid said somberly.

"So you have a dad huh? Well I guess I win in this case." Tourmaline said sitting up.

"Huh?" The boy said, puzzled.

"...I don't have a mom or dad." Tourmaline admitted.

The kid stared at him, mouth hung open, "Whaat!? That's so sad! Wait, how can it involve family if...nevermind, I don't want to say anything mean by accident.".

"It's fine. I came here to ask for answers about my parents, learn something about them...find out what they were like. Now that I'm here, that I know who knew my parents...I can't even look them in the face without getting angry." Tourmaline explained.

"What are you talking about? What happened to your parents?" The kid asked.

"You wouldn't believe me. Heck you'd think I'm crazy." Tourmaline responded.

"Weird stuff happens here all the time. Try me." The boy challenged.

"Well okay. I'm from a race of people called gems, we essentially are guardians of the world." Tourmaline stated.

"Woah woah woah woah woah!" The boy shouted loudly, "You're a gem!?".

"Yeah." Tourmaline said as he turned to show his gems, "You've heard of us?".

"Of course I have! I was raised by gems, I'm a half gem myself!" He exclaimed as he lifted up his shirt, revealing the gem on his belly.

"Wha-wait...who are yo- who are your friends?" Tourmaline asked, astonished by the revelation.

"I'll tell you later, go on with your story!" The kid demanded eagerly as he dropped let his shirt back down.

"Well. Long before you and I were born, the gems did some terrible things you see, and made something angry." Tourmaline went on.

"Terrible things? I thought the gems were nice guys." The little gem said.

"We are. It's just that back in the day, we had different views. We couldn't agree on a way to settle on things...so we turned to war to find the way. In the wake of the war, they awoke a huge monster, that wanted nothing more than the destruction of our entire race. Our remaining forces banded together to fight this thing, my father being the leader of the army. The battle raged forever, until it was only him, and these four other gems: Rose, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl."

The kid wanted to say something, but held it in to let him finish.

"The beast lunged at Rose...and my dad pushed her out of the way. He was killed, and the others used the opportunity to kill the monster. In the meantime, my mom was about to give birth to me. When I was born, no one else was there. My mom faded away and left me behind. The gems couldn't raise me themselves, the society was in ruins. So I was sent away to a human orphanage. I was treated like a freak for years. I grew to resent humans, and I even became an assassin...just to find some sense of revenge against them.".

"You're...you're a bad guy?" The little boy asked, shocked.

"Not anymore. I met some this girl Ruby. She made me see that people aren't as selfish and evil as I originally thought. We traveled the world, protected people from monsters, made a lot of new friends. I've turned my life around, now I just need to learn this final piece of information to leave my past behind.". Tourmaline finished.

"Do...do you blame my friends for what happened to your mom and dad? What happened to you?" The kid asked.

"You're frie-...I don't know…" Tourmaline said as he looked away.

"You don't know? Why?" The boy asked.

"I...just don't know. I don't how to feel towards them. My dad died protecting one of them, but they just left my mom and abandoned me. I don't know if that was intentional or not...but I don't understand why they didn't try to find me." Tourmaline explained.

"Oh. Well, their main goal is to protect the world. So maybe they tried to find you, but tons of things came up and they couldn't do it." The kid said, his tone getting more and more cheery, "They're good people. It's just that sometimes they don't understand certain things.".

"You think so?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yeah! And I bet they would want to help you after they realize what a good guy you turned into!" He beamed.

"...I don't think I'm a good person." Tourmaline said turning away.

"But you said you weren't a bad guy." The young boy said.

"There's a difference between being a good guy and a good person." Tourmaline answered.

"I don't get what you're saying." The boy said, scratching his head.

"I didn't think you would. You're too young to understand." Tourmaline said as he looked out at the ocean, "Then again, maybe I am too.".

The young kid just stared at him for a second, trying to process what he meant by that. He tried to get what he was saying, but he gave up. He just sat next to him and looked out at the sea with him.

"So Tourmaline?" The kid said.

"Yeah?" Tourmaline responded.

"Did you...ever kill people?" Steven asked with morbid curiosity.

Tourmaline heaved a sigh.

"Yeah but they were all bad." He responded bluntly.

The kid stared at him again.

"Like, what kind of bad?"

"The kind of people that would hurt others for their own gain. The kind that would want to make others suffer, steal from others, and do horrible things." Tourmaline explained.

"Oh...so you were kind of a good guy back then." That boy said.

"Excuse you?" Tourmaline said puzzled.

"I mean, it's not like you went to go kill any person. You specifically went after bad people, you stopped them from doing bad things. It might not have been the right way, but I guess no one ever taught you what the right way was."The kid explained.

"...You think so?"

"Yeah. You're not a bad person, you just haven't learned what it means to be a good guy."

Tourmaline looked down at his reflection. Was the kid right? Was he a good guy after all? He couldn't tell, it was too much to take in. He looked back to the boy, a big grin on his face. Tourmaline smiled himself.

"Hey kid. What's your name?" He asked.

"I'm Steven!"

"Nice to meet you Steven." Tourmaline responded, "So you going home now?".

"Hmmm, I don't know. You still seem a little down. Come on! I'll take you somewhere nice!" Steven shouted as he pulled on Tourmaline's arm.

Steven struggled to pull Tourmaline away, but he wouldn't budge. Steven strained to get him up and then he felt himself lift off the ground. Steven looked down to see Tourmaline's feet. He was handing onto his arm. Tourmaline extended his arm and had Steven hang there. He swung it slowly, like a makeshift swing he moved Steven back and forth. Steven laughed and Tourmaline smiled. After a little bit of fun, he put Steven down and Steven ran ahead, waving Tourmaline to come follow him. Tourmaline chuckled to himself and ran after the young gem.

Back at the gem's home, the crystal trio and the other gems are sitting around the kitchen's island. Pearl stood between Ruby and Tanzanite, Garnet was beside Tanza in an uncomfortable stand off, and Amethyst was sharing a bag of chips with Taz. Garnet turned to the others.

"Alright, here's the deal. Some sort of creature is approaching our city. We don't know much about it, except that it's big, it's powerful, and it's coming here fast. We're unsure of ourselves to be honest. But if we had your help, we could easily take care of this monster." Garnet explained to the young gems.

"So you need us to kill this thing?" Ruby responded, "That seems a little rude. We just got here and you're already giving us orders.".

"Not as rude as your friends running off like that." Pearl said.

Tanza looked at Pearl and scowled at her.

"Right now we couldn't give a damn what you think about our friends." She said angrily.

"Excuse you?" Pearl said looking at her.

"Excuse me?" Tanza repeated.

Pearl and Tanza stared at each other, and then Pearl heaved a sigh.

"Forget what I said. I guess I understand what Sapphire is going through, not so much with that Tourmaline kid." Pearl explained.

Tanza stared at her, still angry.

"I could use a drink, anyone else want a drink?" Tanzanite suggested.

"We don't have any alcohol in our home." Pearl explained with disgust.

"I'm not talking about that, I just meant some water." Tanzanite continued as she walked around the island.

"You really shouldn't jump to conclusions like that Pearl." Amethyst insisted as she jumped onto the counter.

Taz walked up and looked up to Tanza and saw her angry expression. She grabbed her hand and Tanza looked down to her. Her expression eased up a bit and she heaved a sigh. Just then, the door opened and in came Sapphire.

"What was that about?" Ruby asked.

"I...I just needed a moment to take in the situation." Sapphire explained.

Sapphire walked to the island and stood next to Ruby. Tanzanite was taking out glasses and filling them with water from the kitchen sink. Pearl and Amethyst looked at her.

"I guess you wanted to see her again." Pearl stated.

"Yeah...there was so much I wanted to say to her...so much I wanted to apologize for." Sapphire said gloomily.

Pearl's stern expression eased up to an empathetic look.

"She wanted to see you too." She said.

Sapphire was quiet.

"See, you I can understand. That boy is what's making me curious. Just interrupting us like that and running off as soon as we mentioned Rose was gone, what's his agenda?" Pearl wondered, "Maybe he wanted to meet the great Rose.".

"That's not funny." Tanza said.

Pearl looked back at her again.

"You have no idea what he's going through.".

"I don't? Then why would he come all the way here asking questions?" Pearl went on.

Tanza was losing her patience. Taz got closer to her and Tanzanite placed a drink in front of Pearl, drawing her attention away from Tanza.

"Hey come on now, we shouldn't be at our throats like this huh? We're all gems here, and we should all have a toast to this occasion!" Tanzanite exclaimed.

"Look, I just want you to help us with this one situa-." Garnet said before she was cut off by Tanzanite.

"Yeah Yeah we know. And we want to help, but just indulge us for a bit. It'll help ease the tension." She said as she handed a drink to Amethyst.

"Yeah Garnet, let em have this sappy little moment so we can get down to business." Amethyst requested.

Soon everyone had a drink of water in their hand. The looked at their glasses and towards Tanzanite, her drink raised high.

"To the future." She proposed.

Everyone took a swig of their drink. Amethyst chortled the whole thing down while everyone else took a small sip.

"There. Can we get to preparations now?" Garnet asked.

"Yes, lets find Tourmaline first. He needs to know about this situation." Pearl suggested.

"Tourmaline will come at the first sign of trouble. Don't worry about him." Tanzanite said.

"Well excuse my opinion, but if he ran from his own personal quest, I don't think he will come here unless he knows the situation." Pearl said.

Tanza was ready to yell at Pearl, sick of her attitude towards her friend, and Amethyst wanted to tell Pearl to lighten up on the kid. But before they could say anything, Ruby slugged Pearl as hard as she could, causing her head to be sent reeling back. The others just stared in pure amazement.

"How many times are you gonna bad talk him!? You're not his freaking mother so just shut up and leave him be!" Ruby yelled at her.

"I'm sorry, I'm just saying what I think of him is all!" Pearl yelled back as she pushed Ruby into the bar.

Ruby rushed towards Pearl and their arms locked together. The two struggled to get the upper hand but were soon separated. Garnet and Amethyst pulled Pearl away, and Sapphire and Tanza grabbed Ruby. The two gems shook of their holders and looked at each other, still angry.

"What is your problem Ruby?! What exactly do you want from us!?" Pearl yelled.

"What do I want!? I'll tell you what I want. I want a big smushed stub, where your big, dumb, gross nose used to be!" Ruby shouted.

"Excuse me!? How dare you speak to me like that! All because your friend doesn't have the gall to ask us some simple questions!?" Pearl yelled back.

"I cannot babysit you two like this! You're gems, act like them!" Garnet shouted.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I should explain the situation to you." Ruby said turning to her.

"Ruby no!" Tanzanite pleaded.

"Don't!" Tanza repeated.

"Because of your irresponsible and stupid actions, Tourmaline's parents are both dead!" Ruby shouted.

"What? Gems don't have parents. What are you talking about?" Pearl said, irritated.

"Oh, you don't remember his mom and a certain gem named Jade?" Ruby asked.

The gem's expressions turned grim. That was a name they haven't heard in forever. And now today, his son has found them?

"How...How do you know-" Garnet asked, shaken.

"Know that's his dad? Tourmaline knows because he learned about the war, about the leader of the army against that thing. And he also found his dad's shattered, lifeless gem just thrown to the side of the battlefield like a piece of trash! What a fun experience that must have been!" Ruby shouted.

"I...no. Jade...how can this be?" Pearl wondered.

"What, surprised he's alive?" Ruby asked.

"Yes." Pearl replied.

The gems stared at her, shocked and offended.

"Let me explain. Back in the day, we didn't have to reproduce, there was no point. However, some group hypothesized that there was some benefit to it. Jade and Aquamarine, the mother in this situation, volunteered to try birthing a new gem, in the hopes that it would have the same powers of the two parents combined." Pearl explained.

"The birth was a success, but we couldn't possibly raise a child in our war torn world, so we had no choice but to put him in a human orphanage. At least until we fixed everything." Garnet continued.

"We wanted to find the kid, honestly. But when we got back to the orphanage where we dropped him off, he wasn't there." Amethyst finished.

"So...Tourmaline was just...an experiment?" Ruby asked, appalled.

Ruby looked down, and looked back toward Pearl, enraged. Her back glowed and she summoned her swords. Instinctively, Pearl summoned her glaive from her forehead. Tanza and Sapphire restrained her to the best of their ability, but she still kicked and resisted.

"You think you can treat Tourmaline like some freaking science project and dump him away when you're done with him!? You think you can just abandon a child just because times are rough!?" Ruby screamed at them.

"I'm sorry but we never intended for this to happen!" Pearl responded.

"BULL...SHIT!" Ruby screamed, "That isn't an excuse for what you've put him through!".

"He grew up not knowing his parents. It sucks but it doesn't seem that bad." Amethyst nonchalantly said.

"Oh sure, being alone for centuries, being abused and labeled as a freak all of his life, having to kill just to get by!" Ruby shouted.

Just then, Ruby realized what she said. Her angry expression turned to one of horror. She beamed her weapons away. Tanzanite and Sapphire stared at her in shock, Tanza and Taz stared in disbelief, and the crystal trio was horrified. Garnet looked at Ruby with her mouth open, Pearl covered her mouth and let out a loud gasp, and Amethyst just looked surprised.

"What did you say?" Pearl asked.

Steven and Tourmaline were running up the hill by the beach, smiling along the way and having a good time. Steven beat Tourmaline to the top and gasped for air. Tourmaline caught up and looked down at Steven.

"Not fair, you got a head start!" He said looking down at the kid.

"Well I had to, otherwise you wouldn't know where to go!" Steven exclaimed.

Steven sat up and looked forward.

"There. Take a look." Steven requested.

Tourmaline looked over to see all of beach city, illuminated by the sunset in a hot pink. He could see everything from up there. The town, the boardwalk, everything. He stared in awe at the true beauty of the city.

"Pretty cool huh?" Steven bragged.

"Yeah, very cool!" Tourmaline admitted.

The boys looked on at the city, and then Steven got up.

"Come on, I gotta introduce you to the gems!" He insisted.

"Oh...no. I already met them and I don't think I can go back just yet." Tourmaline said shyly.

"Aw but why? They'll definitely listen to you if they know you're cool with me!" Steven again insisted.

"I'm just not sure I can." Tourmaline said.

"Sure you can!" Steven exclaimed.

"I think what he means is that if he should." A mysterious voice said.

Steven looked around confused until he was staring at a tall man with silver hair. Tourmaline turned and his eyes widened. It was him. He followed him all the way here.

"Topaz…" Tourmaline uttered in disbelief.

"Hello...partner." Topaz said with a wicked smile.


	8. Chapter 9: Tourmaline and the Tower

**Chapter 9: Tourmaline and the Tower**

The sun shined bright on the seaside plateau, it's transcendent light shimmering upon the mighty statue. The statue held a small house in it's lap, and on the roof was Tourmaline, enjoying the sea's breeze and the warm light of the morning sun. It had been a week since the incident with Topaz, and things have turned around for the better. The crystal gems now see him and his allies as friends, and it has been a quiet week since then. They were kind enough to create additional space in the temple for him, Ruby, Sapphire and Tanzanite. Tanza and Taz however were still content with living in their own temple, but now they could warp in as they pleased, so it's like they lived there anyway. Tourmaline's silence was broken as he heard someone jump onto the roof next to him. He lazily turned over and raised his head up to see the tall slender figure of Pearl.

"Isn't it too early to be napping?" Pearl asked.

Tourmaline stretched out on the ground and sat up, "Didn't know how good sleep felt. Used to freak me out.".

"Oh really? And why's that?" Pearl asked as she crouched next to him.

"I'd rather not answer that. It's dead and buried and I'd rather not relive my dark years." Tourmaline said.

"Alright then." Pearl replied.

Tourmaline looked forward towards the sparkling blue sea and wide sky. A few clouds lazily floated by in the sky, their reflections near perfect in the sea. A less trained eye would assume that the sea was but part of the sky as well. Tourmaline heaved a relieved sigh and Pearl looked forward as well.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Tourmaline stated, "All of these years. No, these centuries, I never would have imagined such beauty to exist here, and yet here it is, as a mere common occurrence.".

"Heh, it is quite a treat isn't it? Rose would always view this sunrise when she was with us." Pearl said.

"Couldn't blame her." Tourmaline shot back.

Before Pearl could continue, the door swung open and a figure leaped up into the air and landed in front of Tourmaline. It was Tanza, with an irritated expression on her face. Before Tourmaline could say anything, she picked him up by the shirt and pulled him towards her. Their faces were inches away from each other.

"Uhh...good morning to you." Tourmaline said, confused.

"No, it's not. Garnet is still pestering me about moving some of my artifacts to her temple. How many times do I have to say you don't need to worry about them!?" She shouted, irritated.

"She just wants to make sure everything is safe in one place, it's nothing too bad." Pearl said defensively.

"You mean she just wants to pick a select view and break them! Every time it's 'That seems too dangerous, I shout take that.'" she said imitating Garnet, "It's perfectly safe at my temple, so she shouldn't worry!".

Tourmaline eased himself out of her hands and landed on his feet, looking up to her. He turned to Pearl.

"Is this true?" He asked.

"Well, I mean it's Garnet's idea, not much I can do to stop her once she's set her mind to something. I can try talking to her later if you like." Pearl said sincerely.

"That would be very good. Thank you Pearl." Tourmaline said.

"That's what she said last time! And yet here we are again!" Tanza ranted.

"Now now Tanza, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be. Remember the conversation you had with them about your artifact collection?" Tourmaline asked happily.

"...That they aren't about destroying gem culture, and wish to preserve it? " Tanza said.

"And we agreed that preservation is better than restoration?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yeah but-" Tanza continued.

Tourmaline lept up and gave her a peck on the cheek in mid sentence. Tanza immediately put her hand to the same cheek and looked down at Tourmaline, surprised and blushing.

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell you what, I'll go talk to Garnet with Pearl. Maybe the two of us can get her to change her mind, okay?" Tourmaline said smugly.

"O...okay." Tanza said, flustered.

Tourmaline shot her a smile and jumped off the roof to the deck, Pearl following behind. Tanza just stared as he walked into the house.

"_One of these days I'm gonna smack him for doing that...but not today._" Tanza thought to herself.

Tourmaline opened the door and walked inside the empty house. Steven was still asleep and the others were in their own rooms. Tourmaline walked up the the breakfast bar and took a seat, with Pearl sitting next to him.

"So are you and Tanza a thing now?" Pearl asked curiously.

"Maybe, maybe not. I just give her a peck every now and then because it gets her to calm down. You wouldn't believe how stubborn she is." Tourmaline joked.

Just then, the door to the temple opened and out walked Garnet, wearing the same indifferent look on her face. Tourmaline smiled, got up from his seat and walked up to her.

"Garnet! Just the girl I wanted to see! Hey, you have a second? I gotta talk to you about something." Tourmaline beamed.

"It has to wait. I've located the position of an ancient artifact and I'd like to get it now." Garnet replied.

"Well that's all fine and dandy but this'll only take a few minutes." Tourmaline went on.

Just then, there was a noise from upstairs. The three looked up and saw Steven, already dressed and awake walking down to greet them.

"Morning guys!" Steven exclaimed.

"Morning kid." Tourmaline said warmly.

"Hello Steven." Garnet said in the same monotone.

"Morning Steven." Pearl replied.

"What's going on?" Steven asked Garnet.

"I have to go now, so I'll explain it later." Garnet said as she turned to the warp panel.

"Whaaat!? But you promised that you would help set up for movie night today!" Steven complained.

"Which is why I want to take care of this as soon as possible." Garnet explained.

"But...but it's a tradition! We always do this together, we need you! We need a fourth person to moderate the chaos between Pearl and Amethyst! And now we have all of our new friends so we gotta make it extra special!" Steven exclaimed.

Tourmaline turned to Pearl, who had an embarrassed expression on her face.

"She gets carried away so much, someone needs to keep her in line." Pearl explained.

"And you need someone to keep yourself from being such a bossy stick in the mud." Tourmaline teased.

"Excuse me!?" Pearl exclaimed, offended.

"Which is why YOU should stay behind and take care of them, while I go after that artifact that you need so bad! And in return you can do something for me." Tourmaline offered.

"That isn't necessary. I can handle this myself." Garnet said adamantly.

"But Garnet…" Steven whined.

Garnet looked down at the droopy kid and back to Tourmaline, his arms crossed, awaiting her real answer, then back to Steven. She heaved a sigh and turned back to Tourmaline.

"Fine. What do you want?" Garnet said submissively.

"Just drop the business about Tanza's artifacts. She's handled it well for this long, there's no reason for her to change." Tourmaline demanded.

"Fair enough. I'll take you to the location, but after that, nothing more from me. You're on your own with this." Garnet stated.

"Okay, lets get this over with." Tourmaline said as he walked to the warp panel.

Garnet walked up to Steven and crouched down to him. She pat him on the head and gave him a little smile.

"I'll be right back, and we can get started preparing for the movie." Garnet said warmly.

Steven's grin grew massive and he hugged Garnet, "Thank you thank you!".

Steven let go of Garnet and ran up to Pearl, eager to start. Garnet turned to Tourmaline and got on the panel. The same familiar light enveloped them and they were off to Tourmaline's mission.

Just then Steven gasped. He put his hands on his head and began to fret.

"Steven? What's the matter?" Pearl asked concerned.

"I just realized we can't do movie night without Tourmaline!" Steven shouted.

Pearl heaved a sigh and looked down at the anxious child.

"Steven it'll be fine. It's still morning, so he has plenty of time before the movie starts." Pearl assured.

"You think so?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Now lets get to work." Pearl said.

A bright light flashed at the new warp panel. Garnet and Tourmaline found themselves on a lakeside shore. To their right was a dark forest of mangled trees and thick brambles, and to their right was a lake filled with deep, purplish water. There was a black bridge made out of granite that connected to a massive tower in the middle of the lake. It was tall and thin, it had the appearance of a carved icicle, and emitted a dark gas from whatever openings it had.

"Woah...spooky." Tourmaline joked, "So what exactly am I grabbing?".

"A rod that houses an ancient magic. It can manipulate time for certain individuals. Say if you use it on me right now, you can repeat what I say or fast forward to a point that you would want to hear.". Garnet explained.

"So basically it doesn't control time itself, but an individual's time?" Tourmaline asked.

"Exactly." Garnet answered.

"Cool. Alright, lets get this done." Tourmaline said as he turned to the bridge.

Before he could make it, Garnet placed a hand on his shoulder. Tourmaline turned back to look at the tall woman.

"Good luck." Garnet said.

"Okay...thanks." Tourmaline said mildly confused.

Garnet then moved back to the warp panel and disappeared in a flash of light. Tourmaline turned back to the tower, shrugged, and ran towards his objective. He quickly crossed the bridge to make it to the tower's gate. The tall, black entrance beckoned him to enter, and he gladly complied. Tourmaline grabbed a hold of the door handle and pulled the door open. He peeked inside to see the tower's foyer. Four great black pillars supported the rising floor. The floor was a checkered red and blue, and the walls were a dark grey. In the farthest corner, he saw the stairs, spiraling up to the next floor.

"Huh, for such a scary building, you'd think they would have some security here." Tourmaline joked to himself as he walked in.

Tourmaline walked in and closed the door behind him. The door boomed with a loud crack, and a giant metal slab barred the door behind him. From the shadows of the pillars, twisted creatures emerged from the shadows. They stood on two avian legs, their arms long and dragging on the floor held large, three clawed hands. The monsters were very gaunt, their eyes sunken into their amphibious heads. Tourmaline groaned loudly as he summoned his weapon.

"I ask for security and I get a freak show." Tourmaline lamented to himself.

"Amethyst stop eating the chips!" Pearl yelled.

"What, I'm gonna save some for the rest of the gang." Amethyst said lazily.

"Oh really, and how much would that be?" Pearl asked skeptically.

"...A bit." Amethyst.

"That's what I thought." Pearl said as she took the bag away from Amethyst, "You can have these back when it's time for the movie.".

"Aw come on P! Give em here!" Amethyst said as she tried to grab the bag back.

Holding Amethyst back with one hand, Pearl opened the cupboard with another hand to put the chips away. A bright light emitted from Amethyst and she became enveloped in light. Pearl looked over to see a large wrestler in spandex, wearing a mask and a devilish grin.

"Gimmie gimmie!" Amethyst demanded.

Pearl dropped the bag behind her, trying her best to get Amethyst to stop grabbing for them. Amethyst almost managed to grab the bag of chips but was distracted when a bright light flashed from the warp panel. The two of them looked to see Garnet back from escorting Tourmaline. She looked at the two frozen in their awkward position as they stared back at her.

"We can explain." Pearl said.

"Don't. I'd rather not know." Garnet said.

The door opened and in walked Steven with the rest of Tourmaline's friends. Ruby and Sapphire were holding a few liters of soda, Tanzanite had a few boxes of tea, and Tanza &amp; Taz had a few bags of assorted groceries. Steven was holding a greasy paper bag that gave off an oily odor.

"Hey you're back already!" Steven beamed.

"So you dropped Tourmaline off for his little play date?" Ruby said.

"If you want to call it that, yes." Garnet said.

"I don't get why he didn't ask us to come along. I'm a little bored just hanging out here." Sapphire chimed in.

"You know Tourmaline. Always being…" Tanzanite stumbled.

"A cocky show off?" Ruby added.

"Yeah, Tourmaline." Tanza finished.

Pearl shoved Amethyst off of her and Amethyst morphed back to her normal form.

"I'm sort of iffy on this too. Shouldn't we have someone go with him?" Pearl asked concerned.

"There's nothing to worry about. I planted a bug on him." Garnet said as she opened her palm.

From her palm, a little mechanical insect the size of a fly buzzed up, flying next to Garnet's head.

"Oh the bug! How clever!" Pearl praised.

"What's that thing?" Steven asked curiously.

"It's a bug. We use it to keep an eye on our fellow teammates when they are away, in case something happens to them." Garnet explained.

"We used to use this to keep an eye on you when you were little and when we had to go away on missions." Pearl added.

"A-hem, STILL do." Amethyst said.

Garnet turned to Pearl and Pearl tried her best to save face.

"I...well, after that cat fingers incident I figured it would be better safe than sorry to keep a close eye on Steven...for a short time anyway." Pearl fumbled.

Amethyst's giggling was accompanied by the others as Steven blushed and tried to hide his face.

"So how does it work? Can we watch Tourmaline while we prep for movie night?" Steven requested.

Garnet shrugged, "I don't see why not. It would be best that we all get to see what he's doing after all.".

"Oh cool! I always thought that maybe Tourmaline sort of held back when he's around us, maybe to save face or something." Taz beamed.

"Either that or he's super lazy and only shows off when he has an audience." Ruby joked.

"Alright, enough you two. Lets take a peek at what he's doing." Tanza said.

Garnet snapped her fingers and the bug emitted a glow. The tiny glow then spread out into a large light. Slowly it formed a hologram, showing the entire room Tourmaline was in. Tourmaline was in a fighting stance as the twisted creatures came closer to him.

"Already huh? You gave him a fun spot huh G?" Amethyst said.

"Alright then guys, I don't suppose you can just let me pass upstairs and get what I want right?" Tourmaline said.

One of the creatures shrieked and rushed towards him. It swung it's arm back, readying a strike. The creature was a yard away from Tourmaline when it lunged it's arm forward like a 3 pronged spear. Tourmaline dodged the strike, grabbed the creatures arm and snapped it like a twig. The creature stumbled back, yelling in agony, as Tourmaline rushed in and delivered a kick to it's knee. The creature's knee buckled and it fell over. Tourmaline caught the creature by the head and twisted it's head as hard as he could, snapping it's neck.

"Why should I ever assume it'll be easy." Tourmaline said as the other creatures shrieked at him.

All three ran towards him and he ran to greet them. One of the creatures leapt into the air and over Tourmaline, while the other two kept running at him from the ground. Tourmaline leapt into the air and kicked the two on the ground square in their faces, pressing off of them to meet the other creature in the air. Tourmaline grabbed the creature by the waist and flipped in the air, slamming the creature into the ground with a vicious piledriver. While the creature was stuck in the ground, he cleaved it in half with one kick. The other two monsters stumbled to their feet, only to see their comrade in two pieces before it poofed away. They ran at him once again, enraged by this development. Tourmaline just stood idly as they approached him. They both swung a hand back and brought it forward, one swinging high and the other swinging low. As the creatures came close to cleaving him in twain, Tourmaline fell forward, rolling over one of the creature's low swipes while ducking the high attack. Confused, the creatures turned back to see a perfectly fine Tourmaline. Not wanting to squander his chance, Tourmaline rushed in and grabbed one of the monster's arms. With a single twist and a hard sidekick, he ripped the monster's arm clean off, causing a stream of blue to come erupting from it's newly formed stump.

"How barbaric!" Pearl exclaimed.

"But you gotta admit, it's pretty effective." Amethyst complimented.

The other creature stood there, astounded by the dismemberment of it's ally. Tourmaline quickly turned to the stunned beast and threw the dismembered arm at it like a javelin. It pierced the creature's chest, causing it to fly back and get pinned to a wall. Tourmaline turned to the other creature, writhing in pain and gripping it's stump. He walked over to it's head and looked down upon it. The creature looked up at the intruder.

"Allow me to ease the pain." Tourmaline said.

With that, he stomped on the creature's head, causing it to burst like a water balloon. The monster poofed away. Tourmaline's attention was then grabbed by the sound of the final beast trying to desperately get itself off of the wall. Tourmaline ran up to the pinned monster and jumped on the arm, causing it to bend by a lot. He looked the monster in the eye, and delivered a massive punch, caving it's skull in. He leapt of the other arm as it poofed away, along with the last monster. His attention turned to the stairs as he began his walk up.

"I can already tell this is gonna be an interesting day." He said to himself.

"At least he's...creative with his brutality?" Tanzanite said a bit unnerved.

"Geez." Sapphire said to herself.

"I'll leave this running if anyone still wants to look, but we have a movie night to get ready for so lets get to work." Garnet said.

Tourmaline's footsteps echoed as he ascended up the tower's stairs. Each one creating a loud click as his weapon touched the glassy floor. He looked up to see a large spiral empty spiral with a shimmer of light at what he assumed to be the top of the tower. He looked to the side to see the same four pillars from the ground floor. As he looked downward upon them, he saw the second floor was a large pit of spikes, begging for a stray to fall on them. He averted his eyes and looked forward.

"_Hope Garnet appreciates this. If only I knew this was just grunt work. Eh, it stops the Tanza issue so whatevs." _He thought to himself.

As he ascended upwards, he felt one of the steps sink into the ground. He heard a loud screeching noise and saw parts of the pillars open. Tourmaline stared at one of the open holes for a good minute, and then he saw three green glowing eyes in a triangular formation, then another set, and another, and another until it became impossible to tell which eyes belonged to which set. A chorus of shrieks erupted as dozens of the monsters flew out of the hole like bees defending their hive. They flew around in an erratic formation, stirring up the others to fly out of their pillars. One rushed Tourmaline but he caught it with a swift kick. He removed the blade from it's chest and pinned it with the same foot. It was a bat like creature, wings and body near identical, save for the glow in the dark green. It showed a grimace, showing it's mouth off. It didn't really have teeth, more like a row of broken glass dripping with silverish drool. The three eyes embedded in the creatures furry head stared up at him, and it's large ears twitched.

With a sneer, Tourmaline kicked the creature down the stairs. He watched as it's body ragdolled downwards until it met with a large shunk.

"_Shunk? That's not a falling down stairs noise."_ He thought to himself.

Tourmaline looked further down to see the creature impaled on a protruding spike. It wasn't from the pit per say, but it was extended from it. Soon the spike grew larger and larger, causing the creature to burst and poof away. Then the spike changed into an amorphous blob of spikes, each one shifting forwards and upwards; towards the stairs. The blob began to expand, covering the entire lower staircase, and climbed up them fast. Tourmaline looked upwards to see the monsters swarming the upper levels of the stairway. He was sandwiched between being torn to shreds like a cow to piranha, or being skewered.

The others were preparing for the night. Amethyst grabbed some bags of popcorn to make later, Pearl arranged plates and cups for anyone who wanted to eat, Garnet was cooking hot dogs for the crew, Steven was debating which movie to use for the special occasion, and the others watched Tourmaline's grim situation.

"Uhhh guys? You think Tourmaline's in trouble?" Taz asked sheepishly.

Garnet turned away from the boiling pot to see the situation. With one glance her eyes widened and she abandoned her station.

"Move. I'm going to his location now." Garnet said sternly.

"What!? But Garnet-" Steven began to say, until he saw the situation, "Nevermind, you go help him out.".

"That won't be necessary." Tanza said calmly.

Garnet and the other gems stared at Tanza's shockingly calm demeanor.

"Are you kidding me!? Look at him! Garnet will be lucky to make it to him before he gets his gem destroyed, let alone retreats into it!" Pearl argued.

"She's right." Ruby added.

"See? Now let Garnet go before-" Pearl said before she was cut off.

"I was talking about Tanza. Tourmaline thrives in situations like this, just look at him." Ruby said.

All eyes were on Tourmaline, his expression still dumbfounded by the sudden obstacle in front of him. Then, his expression turned to a sincere smile. He chuckled to himself as he calmly walked up the stairs. Then he clapped slowly.

"I have to admit! You know how to make a guy feel welcome!" Tourmaline shouted joyously.

As he walked up, his modest chuckle turned into a loud guffaw, as his small smile turned into a wide, devilish grin. One of the monsters dove at him, but he grabbed it mid charge, and tore it's wings from it's body. The creature fell to the floor, it's last sight being the bottom of Tourmaline's heel.

"But I'm sorry to say...it'll take much more than this to keep me satisfied for long." He said menacingly.

The creature's body poofed, and Tourmaline rushed up the stairs into the swarm. The creatures clustered around him, trying to flank and rip a chunk or two off of him. But it was a wasted effort as each gaping maw was met with a swift kick, a punch to the face or a hand slamming a head into another body or wall. As Tourmaline flicked body after body behind him, each one was caught by the chasing spike blob.

Steven and the crystal gems stared in awe at the whirling tornado of death that was once Tourmaline. Ruby smirked to herself as she watched her comrade go crazy.

"See what I mean? He's an adrenaline junky, always willing to go the extra mile and fight with all his might." Ruby boasted.

"He just rushes in with no second thought, but he does it so well. Guess some people were meant to do things the reckless way." Pearl said.

"Ahem, the fun way Pearl." Amethyst chuckled.

Garnet's tense body eased up as she saw the competent young man rush up the stairs. With her third eye should could see every movement he was making. Like a well oiled machine, he kept going and going. It was to be admired, even by her.

"_Good to see he's not all talk." _Garnet thought to herself.

With that, she walked back to the neglected pot to see if the groups hot dogs were ready. The others watched as Tourmaline continued to storm up the stairs. He was able to catch a glance of light. He was close to his goal. With a mighty jump, he lept out of the now tiny swarm towards one of the pillars. He hit it hard, causing a large crack to form, and he bounded off the pillar towards the light. He flew clear through the portal of light to find himself on a roof. He turned quickly to see that there was a gate to the hole in the wall. He rushed towards the gate and kicked it shut with a swift roundhouse. He heard a bunch of thumping noises of what he assumed were his winged friends. They screeched and scratched at the door until there was an equal amount of shunk noises. The blob must have caught up.

Tourmaline heaved a sigh of relief as he turned around to view the rest of the roof. There he saw an altar, housing the fabled rod. It had an oak shaft with what looked like pure starlight swirling around it, ending with a large orb that held a mini galaxy. His treasure was inches in front of him, he reached for it, only to hear a screech. Instinctively, he turned around to see a large shadow swooping down from the now moonlit sky.. He jumped out of the swooping claws of the mystery beast, and rolled to the side. Kneeling down, he looked up at the large monster.

It looked like the small bats, but was gigantic in comparison. The silvery liquid was now running from it's mouth like a faucet, and it had an extra pair of eyes, a deep purple as opposed to the other green ones. It's large wings beat hard as it hovered over it's treasure. It let out a low growl as it looked at Tourmaline.

Tourmaline lifted himself off the ground and smiled once more. He raised his head and looked the monster square in the eyes.

"I take it you're the mother of that lovely brood down there. Hate to say it, but I think you're gonna have to whip up another batch next mating season." Tourmaline taunted.

The creature's eyes tensed as it let out an ear piercing shriek.

"Woah, I think you skipped a stage there. You're not supposed to start with anger when dealing with grief." Tourmaline joked.

The beast then swooped towards Tourmaline. Tourmaline ran to meet the great beast and leapt onto it's belly. The monster bat looked down to see the gem gripping it's fur, clinging on desperately. The beast spun in the air in an attempt to shake Tourmaline off, but Tourmaline managed to drive the blades of his grieves into the creature's stomach. He wasn't going to be shaken off any time soon. The beast winced in pain and decided to gain altitude. The beast stopped spinning and turned up ninety degrees. The wind intensified as it rose higher and higher. Tourmaline struggled but managed to break one hand free without being blown off. He concentrated hard and his hand glowed. The light dispersed and his hand was now a solid green, with his fingers now turned into sharp claws. He laughed and drove his hand deep inside the monster, luminescent blood seeping from the wound and around his arm.

"When did he learn to do that!?" Sapphire said shocked.

"I taught him a thing or two about shape shifting." Amethyst gloated, "Did pretty well too.".

"Wow Amethyst I'm impressed, you taught him something pretty useful." Pearl said smugly.

Amethyst let out a mischievous laugh, "He's still not as good as me though.

Tourmaline let his other hand go as he repeated the process. He drove this hand into the monster as well. He then pulled out his right hand and right leg, nearly being torn off the monster. He struggled hard and managed to drive his hand higher into the monster, slowly scaling it. As he struggled to scale the monster, they had approached the mesosphere, at the border between space and earth. Tourmaline stared up at the creature's exposed neck. Against the wind, he struggled hard and drove both of his hands into the monster's neck. The creature let out a gargled roar as Tourmaline slowly pulled the hole wider, causing blood to flow from it's gullet like a fountain. Pearl moved over to cover Steven's eyes from the gruesome scene.

The creature's constant pace was halted as it's wings spasmed in the air. Soon the creature was still, and Tourmaline climbed onto it's back, and gripped it's head. He leaned forward and began to roll forward with his captured beast. They spun faster and faster as they came crashing down to earth and the tower. They were inches away from the tower's top floor, when Tourmaline flipped over one final time, his shoulder driven into the back of the creature's neck. As they collided, a large explosion of dust and debris erupted from the tower, the entire upper half cracking everywhere from the impact. Tourmaline lied on the beast for a bit, catching his breath. Then the creature poofed, leaving a small gem behind.

Everyone else just stared, dumbfounded by the amazing attack he pulled off.

"Yeeaahh I also taught him a bit of wrestling." Amethyst gloated.

Tourmaline turned to the small gem, a greenish egg with silvery spots on it. He picked it up with both hands, and formed a green bubble around it. He clasped his hands together and the bubble disappeared.

Garnet smiled as she saw the event play through.

"I taught him that." She boasted.

Tourmaline turned around and rushed to the rod. He picked up the medium sized thing and raised it high, declaring his victory. But before, he could bask in it's glory, he felt a large rumble followed by a deafening cracking noise. He turned around to see the tower behind him begin to crumble. He heaved a sigh and ran towards the side of the tower that was still in tact.

"_I'm crazy for doing this, but I needed to save some time anyway!"_ He thought to himself.

With that thought, he jumped off the tower and began to fall. He let out a large whoop as the wind rushed against his face and body. He turned to straighten out his body. He looked at the tower to see the crack he made travel as fast as he was. He laughed as he heard the rest of the tower crack and crumble. He looked forward to see the water. Gripping the rod tightly, he braced himself for impact. In an instant, he was surrounded by the purplish liquid as he sunk deep beneath the surface. Once he stopped moving in the water, he grabbed the rod with his teeth and began to swim towards shore. Boulders and debris fell into the water as he swam. As he rushed through the water, he saw the murky bank come closer and closer. He was almost there. He surfaced and kept swimming forward until he finally made it to the shore.

From there, soaking wet, he looked back on his work. The once massive tower was now nothing but a pile of stones. The bridge had been destroyed, and nothing was left. Tourmaline let out a small chuckle, but it was cut short as he saw the base of the island the tower was on begin to glow blue. This light grew brighter and brighter until it rushed across the entire lake. Tourmaline shielded his eyes from it's intense rays. When he looked back, the lake was a beautiful sparkling blue. The tower's curse had been lifted, and the lake was enchanting once more. Tourmaline fell back and laughed, still holding the rod. After his laugh, he sat up and looked curiously at the rod.

"Wonder how you work." He asked the rod.

Aiming it at the water, he focused his energy into the artifact. He focused his power and flicked it forward, causing a beam to fire at a patch of water. Tourmaline gazed as nothing happened. His smile turned to a look of dull disappointment. He shook the rod in frustration.

"Aw come on! You can at least reverse it can't you!?" He shouted.

Just then, a different beam blasted the same area and turned the water purple again. Tourmaline stared dumbfounded by this development.

"There we go!" He exclaimed.

The water stayed purple for a good while until it turned back to blue. But this time it was different, it was brighter than before, even more beautiful. Kind of like the water in the lagoon he saw with his mother. With that thought entering his head, he dropped the wand in sheer horror. It couldn't be. It can't be!

The water turned back to it's blue state. Tourmaline looked along the shore. To his left, the warp panel home. He was about to dash towards it, but then he noticed something on his right. It was a crystal, nothing initially special about it, but something about it drew him to view it closer. He ran towards it, curiosity peaked.

"_Eh, I got a few minutes to spare._" He thought to himself.

Once he made it to the crystal, he saw it in it's full glory. It glowed a bright white light, but nothing else about it was special. He groaned but before he left, he saw something interesting. It was a trail of little crystals, glowing as brightly as the large one. Transfixed, he decided to follow them underneath the surface of the lake.

"What's he doing?" Taz asked curiously.

"Not sure. There shouldn't be anything else worth finding down there." Garnet answered.

"What are you searching for Tourmaline?" Ruby asked as he swam downwards.

As he swam through the increasing darkness, guided by the twinkling trail, he noticed a bright light. He swam faster and faster towards the light, wanting to desperately find out what it was. Inches from the light, he stopped in front of it. It was like staring at the surface of the lake, no other water was behind this lens. He stuck his hand through and immediately fell through. He tumbled over and fell into a shallow pool. He shook his head and walked towards a small beach, illuminated by something. He reached the shore, turned around and froze. It was the same. The bright crystals in the walls, the beautiful water, it was all the same. It was his mother's hiding place.

"No...no way." He said to himself.

Snapping out of his daze, he whipped out the rod and aimed it at the beach.

"Show me...show me the earliest sign of life here!" He demanded.

The rod didn't respond. Tourmaline gripped it tighter, gritting his teeth he felt tears stream down his face through the water.

Tourmaline's friends stared at him with empathy, worried for their friend. The crystal gems stared too, just as worried for Tourmaline. Steven looked at him and knew just what he was feeling. It was something he felt from time to time, the same type of desperation.

"Show me her." Tourmaline whispered to the Rod, "I KNOW SHE WAS HERE SO SHOW ME HER NOW!" He then cried.

With that, the rod emitted a wide beam. It scanned the entire beach and lagoon. The light receded into the wand and projected a hologram. Tourmaline looked to see the woman kneeling on the beach. Her blue hair, blue skin, it looked like her. Then she turned and she saw the same yellow eyes staring at him and he felt his heart stop. It was her...Aquamarine.

"Is that...his mom?" Taz asked.

"I think it might be." Tanza answered.

As Tourmaline looked on with a stony expression, he witnessed someone approach her. She had darker blue hair, a completely blue dress and big bright eyes with black pupils. Aqua extended a hand in greeting and the mystery girl returned it. Tourmaline stared on as the inaudible conversation unfolded in front of him. The wand glitched in his hands and the scene disappeared. Tourmaline fretted for a second before another image of his mother appeared. This time she was in the arms of a large man. He was well cut, his long brown hair in a ponytail and had a very handsome face with deep blue eyes. He wore a pair of black pants and a torn tank top. He had a gem on his arm, almost like the one he found at the boneyard. Quickly Tourmaline looked at his necklace and looked back up in utter disbelief.

"Da..Dad?" He whispered to himself.

He witnessed his mother and father kiss in a happy embrace. He looked down at her and smiled, as she returned it to him. The image distorted once again and now showed the two of them now accompanied by the mystery woman. Aqua had a small bulge in her belly. This must have been when she was pregnant with him. Some sort of discussion was going on, the mystery girl was in distress. Could it be that they proposed something to her? Something regarding him? After some assumed coaxing, the woman agreed to their deal. Just then, the rod shifted one more time. This time, the mystery woman was alone, she stared down at the lagoon, her gem facing Tourmaline, and dropped to her knees. She placed her hands on her face and began to weep. Tourmaline just stood there, witnessing this event take place. She slammed her fists into the water and a large burst came forth. A crack formed and a hole to the lake began to flood the lagoon. Reacting quickly, she stood up and forced the water back. Mustering all her strength, she formed a seal of water in the hole, causing nothing else to come through. She heaved a sigh, and walked away. She moved past Tourmaline and the rod cut out entirely.

Tourmaline just stood there, still taking in everything. His friends stared at him with sympathy, wanting to be there to comfort him. The crystal gems turned to each other.

"It can't be her." Pearl whispered to Garnet.

"But it might be." She responded.

Tourmaline looked forward and wiped the tears from his eyes. He sloshed through the lagoon, taking one final look at the place before he left, and jumped through the hole. As he swam towards the warp panel, he only thought of his mom and dad, how happy they were, until everything was taken away from them. But there was also the question of the day that will surely haunt him: Who is that woman with them?

The warp panel lit up the dark house. Tourmaline was alone as he looked up the stairs to see some sort of light. He leapt up there to see everyone on or near the bed. They looked back at him with smiles.

"Hey Tourmy! You're just in time for the movie!" Taz beamed.

Tourmaline heaved a sigh and walked towards his friends, "Good. I could use a break after the day I had today.".

"Why? What happened?" Tanzanite asked.

"Eh, I don't wanna talk about it." He replied as he sat in between Ruby and Tanza, "So what're we watching?".

"Dog copter 2: Reckoning!" Steven boasted, "Connie told me that it was super good!".

"And who's this Connie? You're girlfriend?" Tourmaline teased.

Steven blushed as he looked away, "No…".

Amethyst then held a bowl of popcorn and assorted chips in front of Tourmaline, in an attempt to distract him from the flustered Steven, "Want some?".

"Nah, I'm good." Tourmaline said.

"More for us then." Amethyst said as she brought the bowl to Steven and Taz.

"Alright, show time!" Steven exclaimed as he pressed play.

Today had been a rough experience for Tourmaline, but he figured it would be best to leave it for tomorrow. He had a lot of questions that needed answers, but for now his friends needed him to be happy, so he had to oblige. Ruby looked up at the smiling Tourmaline with a concerned smile.

"_When are you going to stop hiding behind fake smiles Tourmaline?"_ She thought to herself.


	9. Chapter 10: Cheer Up

Chapter 10: Cheer Up

Pearl and the other crystal gems were in the kitchen, chatting away as the morning sun shined in the windows. Pearl and Garnet stood behind the counter as Steven and Amethyst sat at the breakfast bar. Steven and Amethyst were eating pancakes as they were talking to their friends.

"So you think the girl in the flashback could be Lapis?" Pearl asked.

"I'm not sure. It doesn't seem like Lapis should be around during that time, but it is a possibility." Garnet answered.

"Eh, even if it is her, she's long gone. No point in worrying about this anyways." Amethyst said dismissively as she continued to eat.

Steven just pushed his cut up pancakes around the plate. Slowly he took a small bite from the plate. The gems looked at the sad kid and each grew their own concerned look on their faces.

"Uhh Steven? Something up with your pancakes?" Amethyst asked.

"No…" He replied solemnly.

"What's wrong Steven?" Pearl asked.

Steven stopped messing with his breakfast and put his silverware down.

"It's just Tourmaline. Something tells me he's pretty bummed about that thing that happened yesterday." Steven explained.

"He seemed fine to me. He had a nice night with us and the others when he got home." Amethyst said.

"I think he was faking it. Sometimes people don't express how they really feel to make other people not worry about them." Steven elaborated, "He's still bumming over yesterday, I can tell.".

The gems looked at each other for a second and gave a nod to each other.

"Well maybe we should do something to make him feel better." Pearl suggested.

"Yeah! You're like the best guy at cheering people up!" Amethyst Boasted.

"Yeah, I guess I am. Where is he? I'ma talk to him." Steven declared.

The groups conversation was interrupted by the sound of something thumping onto the outside deck. They all looked over to the screen door and open window to see Tourmaline, facing the ocean. He stood there for a second and then went to walk down the stairs. Immediately Steven scooted his chair back and ran after him.

"You guys talk with Tourmaline's friends! I'ma go talk to him!" Steven exclaimed.

"Okay Steven, good luck!" Pearl shouted.

Tourmaline walked along the beach in deep thought. The sound of the crashing waves just inches from touching his feet the only noises accompanying him. He thought about the flashback from last night. His mother, seeing his dad for the first time...and the other girl. Who was she? What did she have to do with his parents? And why did she seem so distraught at the loss of them? Everything just kept piling up in his mind and it was driving him nuts. He needed answers, but had no idea how to ask about them. Should he ask the crystal gems? They might know a thing or two about her. But that brings up...bringing up the whole situation. It's his problem, he should deal with it personally, shouldn't he? He was getting confused and stressed out until he heard the same, familiar voice shout from behind him.

"Tourmaline!" Steven shouted.

Tourmaline looked behind him to see Steven running to catch up to him. He completely stopped and turned around to allow the kid to make it to him. Steven slowed to a walk and looked up to him. Tourmaline flashed a smile.

"Hey Steven. What's up?" Tourmaline greeted.

"Just wondering *pant* what you were doing going out by yourself." Steven answered.

Tourmaline's smile turned to an empty expression, "I'm just...thinking.".

"About what?"

"Things that don't concern you." Tourmaline replied, mildly irritated.

"Oh come on Tourmaline. I know something's bugging yo-" Steven started before being sidetracked.

Tourmaline looked down to see the young boy's attention drawn to something. Following the direction Steven was staring in, he turned his head to see a young, brown skinned girl wave to him. She had long black hair and wore a big pair of glasses.

"You know that girl?" Tourmaline asked.

"Uhh, yeah! Hold on a second, I gotta say hi. Don't go anywhere!" Steven said as he ran towards the girl.

"Okay then." Tourmaline said as he watched Steven run towards the girl.

Steven ran up to the girl and they appeared to be having a pleasant conversation. The girl looked over to him and gasped, turning back to Steven, talking excitedly to him. Tourmaline scratched the back of his head, trying to piece together what was going on. Eventually, Steven gave the girl a hug and a wave goodbye. The girl waved back and they went in opposite directions. Steven came back to him and Tourmaline flashed a sly grin.

"So who's that? You're girlfriend?" Tourmaline teased.

"Wha-No! I mean, not exactly. Kind of, sort of?" Steven explained messily, "She's a girl that I care about a lot, that's all.".

"Hmm, wish I had something like that." Tourmaline admitted.

"What, of course you do! You got your buddies and my friends!" Steven beamed.

"I mean, like special care about I guess. I don't know, it just seems weird not having someone like that." Tourmaline explained.

"You sure you don't have anyone you feel strongly for?" Steven asked.

"Well...I guess there's Tanza. She's really pretty, she's a lot like me, I guess I have some feelings for her. Never really got to express them thoroughly though. In fact I think she thinks I just fluster her because it's the easiest way to deal with her, not because I do it for...other reasons." Tourmaline explained.

"Hm. Come walk back home with me buddy, I think I gotta explain a thing or two to ya." Steven requested.

With a light sigh, Tourmaline gave a nod and walked alongside Tourmaline.

All the gems were gathered around the couch, in the middle of discussing how to take care of Tourmaline. Pearl stood alongside Tanza and Ruby in front of the couch, Amethyst was flopped on the couch with Taz laying in a lazier fashion with Garnet sitting up next to Sapphire and Tanzanite.

"What if we tried a party? A little get together to make him feel better?" Taz suggested.

"No, that won't work. Something that big, he'll know something's up." Ruby explained, "We have to do something small.".

"Maybe a nice dinner?" Amethyst added.

"He doesn't eat." Sapphire explained.

"A quiet night with some tea?" Tanzanite suggested.

Pearl nodded in agreement but Taz shook her head, "He needs his friends, and I don't think he's the type for quiet nights like the one you're suggesting.".

As they continued to talk, Tanza groaned and left the group. Everyone stared at her as she walked to the door.

"What's up with you?" Sapphire asked.

"This is pointless. I'm just gonna ask Tourmaline what he would like to do." Tanza explained.

"No! That's a bad idea. It should come as a pleasant surprise so he doesn't feel like it's something weird." Sapphire elaborated.

"Sapphire, she's already gone." Ruby said dully.

The door remained half open as Tanza walked down the stairs, leaving the other's behind. Sapphire slapped her forehead in disgust and let out an irritated groan.

"Alright, guess we're just gonna wait here, find out what he wants to do and go from there." Sapphire said.

"And when you really like someone a lot, you feel the need to be with them at any cost." Steven explained to Tourmaline.

"Hm, I see you're point. Love seems like a pretty simple concept, so why is it that so many people make it look so complicated?" Tourmaline asked.

"Well that's because the feelings you get from it make you feel all fluffy and weird." Steven explained.

The two of them were close to the home before Tourmaline stopped to stare at the ocean. Steven walked ahead a little bit before noticing that his friend wasn't following him. He turned around and jogged back to his buddy.

"Something up?" Steven asked.

"It's just...how do I tell if these feelings are getting stronger? Like I'm caring about her more?" Tourmaline asked.

"Well, you should try going on a date! A date is a perfect way to spend quality time with a certain person and get to know them better." Steven explained.

"Alright then...but what exactly is a da-" Tourmaline said before he cut himself off.

Tourmaline looked to his left to see Tanza walking towards him. Her beautiful eyes dead center on him, her long hair flowing in the wind, and her body glowing in the daylight. He felt his whole body turn to mush. Before he could force himself to move, she was only a few feet in front of him.

"Hello Tourmaline." Tanza greeted.

"H-Hi Tanza." Tourmaline greeted back, "What're you doing here?".

"I came to ask you a question. Is there anything you would like to do tonight?" Tanza asked.

"Uhhh! Uhhhhh!" Tourmaline stuttered.

Seeing Tourmaline's reaction, Steven's face grew a large smile as he came up with a brilliant plan.

"Yes he would! He would like to take you on a date to the boardwalk tonight at around five." Steven interjected.

"Is this true Tourmaline?" Tanza asked curiously.

"Ummmmm...yes?" Tourmaline shyly said.

"Well then alright. I'll see you there at five." Tanza said with a smile.

She touched Tourmaline on the shoulder and walked away. As she walked away, her smile turned into a confused expression.

"_What's a date?_" She asked herself.

"Woo-hoo! You got a date Tourmaline! This is great!" Steven celebrated.

"No...it's not." Tourmaline said terrified.

"Huh?" Steven uttered.

Before Steven could say anything else, Tourmaline grabbed him by the sides and started shaking him like he used to shake Mr. Queasy.

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A DATE IS! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THIS RIGHT AND NOT LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT, WHEN I DON'T EVEN KNOW THE BASIC CONCEPT!?" Tourmaline shouted as he panicked.

"I-I-I c-c-c-can hel-l-l-lp!" Steven shouted as his voice jiggled.

Tourmaline stopped shaking the kid, and Steven was recovering from the shakedown. He shook his head and focused on Tourmaline.

"I've been on a date before. I can explain the basics!" Steven declared.

"Okay...but what about things besides basics?" Tourmaline asked.

"Hmmm. In that case we're gonna have to go to the love master himself?" Steven decided.

"Love master?" Tourmaline repeated, puzzled.

"My dad!" Steven declared.

Tanza walked back into Steven's home, closing the door behind her. The others stared at her with mixed emotions. Most of them were indifferent, Sapphire looked annoyed, and Taz was happy to see her back. Before she could say anything, Sapphire stomped up to her, ready to unload on her.

"Alright then! What does Tourmaline want us to do?" Sapphire asked.

"She doesn't want any of you to do anything." Tanza beginned

"Of course he doesn't! He's modest like that!" Sapphire interrupted.

"Apparently he only wants me." Tanza added.

"Of...wait what?" Sapphire said surprised.

"We're going on a 'date' tonight at five." Tanza declared.

Everyone stared at her with a shocked expression. Taz's expression was greater than anyone of them combined. Ruby grew a modestly jealous expression on her face, but did her best to hide it behind a smile. Then Pearl walked up to Tanza wearing a nice smile.

"Well that's wonderful!" Pearl declared.

"Is it? I don't even know what a date is. Steven declared it for Tourmaline." Tanza explained.

Pearl was taking mildly aback by this revelation. Then she giggled a bit, and that was echoed by the rest of her friends.

"Tanza. A date is like a meeting between two people that care about each other very much." Pearl explained.

"Oh...OH!" Tanza exclaimed as her face flushed, "Then why would he...I mean...I…?"

"Tanza, relax. It's just a date with someone you know." Garnet reassured.

"Yeah, just with lots of flirting and kissing." Amethyst joked.

Tanza covered her face as it flushed even more. Pearl shot a glare at Amethyst, but she just shrugged it off.

"There isn't that. Well, there is but you shouldn't feel embarrassed about it. After all, don't you feel the same about him?" Pearl asked.

"I guess...yes." Tanza replied.

"Then there's nothing to worry about. We're here for you and we'll teach you everything you need to know for tonight." Pearl reassured.

"Yeah, and knowing Tourmaline, he's probably just as wonky with this as you are." Tanzanite added.

At the carwash, there was a man with a reverse farmer's tan laying on a lawn chair. He wore a tank top and jean shorts with a pair of sunglasses. He's just relaxing between appointments at the carwash. It's been a relatively slow day, so he's grateful that he has such a nice day to relax. As he tanned in the sun, he heard a familiar and happy voice.

"Dad!" It shouted.

He flipped his sunglasses up and saw a little boy running up to him, accompanied by a tall, teenage man. He didn't recognize the teen but he could tell the boy from anywhere. It was his son.

"Hey Steven!" he responded, "Who's your friend?".

"This is Tourmaline, he's a gem!" Steven exclaimed.

"Hi." Tourmaline said as he extended his hand outwards.

"Uh, hi. Greg. Greg Universe." Greg introduced himself.

"Please teach me how to be a lovemaster." Tourmaline requested.

Greg grew a puzzled expression on his face.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"Let me explain." Steven interjected, "Tourmaline has a date tonight and needs some advice. Considering you were with mom for awhile, you're the best guy to help him out!".

Greg looked back at Tourmaline. He looked him up and down, checking out his gems and chiseled form.

"You sure you need my help? You seem good enough as it is." Greg said.

"He just needs the whole date thing explained to him." Steven elaborated.

"Oh! Well you see the thing with dates is that they're just a way that allows you to be alone with the person you like. It allows you to do things that you two enjoy and get to know each other more. It's a way to get closer with each other." Greg explained.

"I see. So what exactly do you do on these...dates?" Tourmaline asked.

"Well anything really. Go eat, go do random activities. Stuff like that." Greg continued.

"And is there some specific way I should act around her?" Tourmaline asked.

"Uh, well you should be flirty but not too flirty. Be polite and help her out in anyway you can. Listen to her and be nice." Greg finished.

"I guess I get it." Tourmaline stated.

"Wanna practice?" Greg offered.

"You can practice this stuff?" Tourmaline responded.

"Yeah! Tourmaline, you be you, and Steven, you be his lady friend." Greg said.

"You got it!" Steven replied.

"Alright, you're sitting down with her and you're drinking some soda." Greg explained.

"We don't drink." Tourmaline said.

"Well what are you doing for your date?" Greg asked.

"They're going to the boardwalk for a fun time." Steven answered.

"Oh okay. Well now you're just standing in line to get on a ride. You two are bored and decide to make some small talk." Greg said.

"You alright Tourmaline?" Steven said doing his best Tanza impression.

"Yeah. I'm fine. You look great today by the way? Did you do something new with your look? Cause you look really good." Tourmaline said nervously

"...Steven how long is it until the date?" Greg asked with a tired voice.

"About three hours." Steven replied.

"Good. We've got a bit to work on." Greg declared.

Tourmaline stood at the gate to the boardwalk, the sky now a light pink as the sun slowly fell towards the ocean. He was told that he should never keep a woman waiting, so he has been waiting there for nearly twenty minutes. His naturally messy hair was slightly combed to look better. He heaved a sigh and looked towards the vendor. He bought the tickets inside early so they could get in as soon as possible.

"What time is it?" Tourmaline asked.

"It's five." The man responded.

"Okay, thank you." Tourmaline responded.

Tourmaline turned away from the vendor and to the sidewalk. Just then his eyes widened slightly. There she was, looking even better than she did earlier today. He felt weird, but tried his best to keep his cool in front of her. Soon, she was right in front of her, her breasts right in front of his face, he looked up at her beautiful face.

"Hello there Tourmaline. I hope you didn't wait for me long." She said to him with a smile.

"Uh, no don't worry about it." Tourmaline lied, "Lets go in, shall we?".

The two walked into the boardwalk side by side. Awkwardly, Tourmaline grabbed for Tanza's hand. He lightly gripped her hand in his, feeling her warmth. Tanza shivered and looked down at him.

"What are you doing?" She asked sheepishly.

"Holding your hand. That's what you do on dates, right?" Tourmaline replied, "Is this okay?".

"Uhh, I don't know." She replied.

Tourmaline let go of her hand and then wrapped his arm around her own, "Is this better?".

"I guess." She answered, blushing.

The two walked along the boardwalk's carnival. The shining lights of the boardwalk's various rides and games illuminated the simple planks on the ground. Various teens and adults with their kids laughed while they enjoyed everything the boardwalk had to offer. The thick smell of grease and funnel cake filled the air.

"So what do you want to do?" Tourmaline offered.

Tanza thought for a second about what looked appealing to her. She scanned the vendors and thought about what seemed the best thing for the two of them to do.

"Hmm, what about that?" She suggested as she pointed towards the strongman game.

Tourmaline shrugged, "Okay then.".

As the two walked towards it, a tall well built brown man with a small moustache was shouting into a mic.

"Come one, come all! Try your best at the strongman game! Win a prize for your lady and get some bragging rights!" He shouted chipperly.

"_Prize for my lady? Guess I better do this._" Tourmaline thought to himself.

Tourmaline raised his hand up, "I'll give it a shot.".

All eyes turned to Tourmaline. Tanza looked down, slightly surprised at his eagerness. Tourmaline looked up to her and flashed a grin.

"I'm gonna win you something." He said modestly.

Tanza smiled, "Try not to break the machine, okay?".

Tourmaline walked up to the tall machine, looking up at the high bell far above the ground. He picked up the giant sledgehammer next to the stand and readied his swing.

"Everybody stand back! Otherwise you might get some shattered pride all over you!" The man joked.

Annoyed by the comment, Tourmaline swung down the hammer as hard as he could. The small metal weight rocketed up the board and smashed through the bell. The sound of shattering metal echoed throughout the boardwalk, as everyone gawked up at the sky. A few seconds passed until the the weight came screaming back down to earth. Before it could hit the ground, Tourmaline grabbed it in the air and crushed it in his hand. He discarded the weight, now looking like a crushed soda can and looked to Tanza with a smile.

"Pick whatever prize you want honey~." Tourmaline said goofily.

Tanza stared at him with another confused expression, but shook it off and walked to the prize stand. She looked over the various bears and inflatable toys until she saw a large wolf. She didn't know why but it just caught her attention. She picked it up and carried it like live pup, turning to the vendor, still in shock.

"Is it okay if I have this one?" She asked.

The vendor just nodded. Tourmaline wrapped his arm around her waist and the two of them walked off. Tourmaline smiled as she imagined Tanza to be satisfied with her prize. The two walked together until they came across the ferris wheel. Tourmaline remembered Greg's advice.

"_You gotta make sure you go on the Ferris wheel, it's a must for romance!_" His words echoed in his mind.

"Hey Tanza. Lets go on there!" Tourmaline exclaimed as she pulled her along.

The two got in line. It was a short line at that, but still long enough to get to the impatient Tourmaline. He removed his hand from her waist and scratched his head. Tanza wrapped a hand around his shoulders, bringing him in closer. His head was closer to her breasts then it ever had been before. He looked over to see them and immediately looked away, blushing.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, something is just too good." Tourmaline replied.

Looking down she realized what he meant by that and lightly shoved him away, now blushing as well. The two of them eventually made it to the ferris wheel and got onto their reserved cab. The two of them sat close together as the the wheel slowly began to turn, carrying them higher and higher into the sky. Tourmaline placed a hand on Tanza's lap and looked up at her. The two stared into each others eyes for a full minute, both unsure of what to say, still slightly flushed from earlier.

"Tanza. Can I ask you something?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Are...are you having fun here?" Tourmaline followed up, "Be honest."

Tanza looked away for a second, and stared back at him once again.

"Not...really. I'm just don't feel like this type of place is for us." She replied modestly.

"Oh…" Tourmaline said solemnly.

There was an awkward silence as the two of them reached the top, being able to view the entire boardwalk and town. The sun was mere inches away from the ocean's surface, and the sky was a vivid pink. Tanza looked at the sky in awe. She turned to Tourmaline, who was just looking down at the ground. She immediately knew what she did wasn't okay. It didn't make him feel okay. She reached over and touched his shoulder.

"Tourmaline...I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I'm not having fun here, but I'm enjoying time with you." Tanza explained.

Tourmaline looked back at her with a somber expression. He looked down at the bar holding them back and forcibly moved it up. Tanza looked at Tourmaline with a surprised expression as he rose to his feet. He looked down at her and offered a hand.

"Come. I've got somewhere I gotta show you." He offered.

She nodded and grabbed his hand. He leapt off the ferris wheel, taking her with him. Tanza clinged onto her wolf as they landed gracefully on the ground, causing a small cloud of sand to spread from their impact. Tourmaline ran with her. Hand in hand, the two rushed to the site Tourmaline wanted her to see.

The two ran up the hill that overlooked Steven's house. Tanza let Tourmaline take the lead a bit so she didn't have to bend over while running. Eventually the two made it to the top, with Tourmaline smiling. Tanza took a look to see all of Beach City bathed in the pink light. Even the tall ferris wheel they were riding on looked insignificant from where they were. She looked at it all in awe.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes. Very." Tanza responded.

"But not as beautiful as you." Tourmaline said as he got closer to her.

Tanza blushed slightly, "Thank you.".

Tourmaline sat down on the plateau's edge, his feet dangling in the air. Tanza joined him as they sat close together. She placed her stuffed toy a bit behind them so the wind wouldn't blow it away as she held Tourmaline. The two stared at the city for what felt like hours, watching the sun melt into the ocean. Tanza looked down at Tourmaline, his head resting on her shoulder, and asked him a question.

"Tourmaline?" She spoke.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Is there anything...that you might be hiding from us." She asked.

Tourmaline's eyes widened in response to the question. He looked up at the concerned expression of Tanza, expecting an answer. Tourmaline averted his eyes.

"No...there's nothing." He said morbidly.

"You know you can tell me anything right? I'm-"

"You're friend." He finished for her.

Tanza stopped in mid sentence. She wasn't expecting an interjection, and not something like that. After all, they were more than that, weren't they? Tourmaline then gently removed her arms from his body and stood up. He turned away and started walking down the hill.

"We're done talking about this." He said coldly.

Tanza looked at him and an angry expression came across her face. She quickly got up and ran behind him. She grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. She saw his surprised expression as she locked both of her hands onto his shoulders.

"NO! We are not done talking about this!" She shouted at him.

"Let me go Tanza!" He demanded.

"No! You've been acting weird ever since last night. Something happened and I have a right to know!" She shouted again.

"What happened last night is none of your concern! It's my business and mine alone!" Tourmaline replied.

"You mean like that grudge match that you had with Topaz? That fight that nearly got you killed because you were too stubborn to ask for help!?" Tanza shouted.

Tourmaline's expression turned from anger to shock and remorse, "That was my fight, not yours. You had no need to concern yourself with it."

"I have every right to be concerned about it, because you were halfway dead when you decided to go after it." She responded.

"No, you don't. I have my own affairs to deal with and I don't have to bring you into them." Tourmaline said calmly.

"Are you kidding me? That's the point of having friends! We help each other, we care about each other! And you shouldn't let your selfish pride hide that fact, because if you do, you'll wind up dead because you were too arrogant to let us help you!" Tanza screamed.

Tourmaline tightened his hands into a pair of fists as he endured the lashing from Tanza. It was after that sentence, he let it all out.

"**MAYBE I'D RATHER BE KILLED OFF THAN EVER HAVE TO RISK PUTTING YOU OR THE OTHERS IN DANGER AGAIN**!" He yelled at her.

Tanza stared at him in bewilderment. There was a long silence as the two stared at each other.

"So that's what it's about? Protecting us?" Tanza said.

"Yes..no. I mean…" Tourmaline stumbled.

"No, no it's fine. You have no faith in us and feel the need to protect us like we're helpless, I get it." Tanze replied, offended.

"No, you're all very competent fighters!" Tourmaline defended.

"Then why do you feel the need to protect us?" Tanza asked.

Tourmaline looked away, and a somber expression appeared on his face. His depressed look was worse than she had ever seen, with the exception being him finding his father's gem.

"Listen Tanza. I've been alive for over six centuries. I've done terrible things, I was outcasted from the human race, and felt no remorse in doing these horrible things. I never realized the damage I was truly causing, with no thought for anyone other than myself. Now I realize how foolish I was, thanks to Ruby, Sapphire, Tanzanite, and you and Taz. If it weren't for you I would not be the man I am today, so I feel this urge, this need to protect you. You're all extremely important to me. I've abandoned my own fight to save Ruby, to protect you all from that thing, and went back despite all my injuries to end it all...to stop the violence for your sakes. It's my duty to protect you." Tourmaline explained.

"Wow I...I didn't…" Tanza tried to say.

"It's fine. You're right...I've been selfish. You all have a right to know what's going on and I should have told you from the beginning. It isn't anything big...to you anyway, but it was just something that jolted me. With that rod...I've found my mom's secret oasis. The rod showed me her and my dad, happy together. And a woman...a mutual friend most likely. It just got me thinking, that's all." Tourmaline said.

"It must have been hard...seeing them again." Tanza said as she approached him.

"It was...but it's my own issue. There's no big conflict, no real punishment to come...it was just hard, being reminded of them again. It's just that-" Tourmaline said before he cut off his own sentence.

He felt something warm press against his cheek. It felt good, really good. His entire face flushed with green as he turned to see the source. He saw Tanza, her face inches away from his, her lips relaxing after giving him the kiss. She smiled at him.

"Guess that trick works both ways." She joked, "But you don't have to dismiss this. If it really bothers you, we can tell the others. They'll understand and maybe be able to help you. You put too much on yourself you know.".

"Yeah." Tourmaline said.

Tanza walked around and crouched in front of him, so they met at the same eye level.

"You also have me, whenever you need help." She offered.

She flashed him a nice smile and Tourmaline lost control. He placed his hand behind her head and brought her in for a kiss. Their lips pressed together, Tanza's eyes shot open in surprise. Their first kiss, it came so suddenly. She felt a warm sensation that started from her mouth, all the way down to her legs. Her eyes grew weary, and she closed them, giving in to his taste. She placed a hand on Tourmaline's chest as she wrapped her other arm around him. Slowly they fell backwards, as Tanza lied on top of Tourmaline, the continued their passionate kiss. All of Tourmaline's problems and mixed feelings, melted with this one moment. He placed his other hand on her back, feeling her long hair as he embraced her. As the sun set and the pink sky turned to magenta, he wished that he could stay in this moment for eternity.


	10. Chapter 8: Shattered

Chapter 8: Shattered

Tourmaline stared in utter disbelief. It was him. Topaz found him, staring at him with those twisted eyes and crooked smile. Steven stood close to Tourmaline, confused by his reaction to the new gem. A strong gust of wind blew past them, Tourmaline's hair flowing forwards and Topaz's hair flowing back. A low, diabolical giggle came from Topaz as his smile grew even wider.

"I have to hand it to you Tourmaline, you can be very hard to track down. But you and I both know that I never stop stalking my prey." Topaz said with a sinister chuckle.

"What's he talking about Tourmaline?" Steven asked.

"Let's just say that you can't leave everything in your past behind kid." Topaz said.

Tourmaline tightened his hands into two fists. His stunned expression turned into a serious scowl. He looked his old partner dead in the eyes.

"Go home Steven." Tourmaline demanded.

"What? Why do you want me to-?"

"I said GO!" Tourmaline shouted at the boy.

Steven looked at Tourmaline, shocked by his outburst. Tourmaline stared down at the boy like a parent seriously disciplining their child, anger in his eyes. Steven gave a slight nod and ran down the hill. Topaz just stood and stared at Tourmaline as Steven ran past. Steven looked back and caught a glimpse of a shining yellow jewel in Topaz's side.

"_He's a gem too!?_" He thought to himself, "_I gotta tell Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl._".

Once Steven got to the bottom of the hill, Tourmaline turned his attention back to Topaz.

"What the hell do you want Topaz!?" He growled.

"Oh come on now, where's some respect for your old partner? Then again, you never respected me...did you?" Topaz said as his tone turned grim.

"You were always the psychopath." Tourmaline said.

"And you were always the misanthrope." Topaz shot back.

Tourmaline couldn't disagree with that, but things have changed now.

"That isn't who I am anymore. I know how people really are. There is no definite person, each one is unique. There are one's who are selfish like the one's I once vowed to exterminate, but there are far more good people than evil ones. I renounce my old views to adopt a new life." Tourmaline stated.

Topaz looked at him, astonished by his statement. Then he laughed quietly. Then it grew louder and louder until he threw his head back to the sky and howled with laughter.

"What the hell happened to you!? You were such a cold blooded killer when I found you in the streets. Now you're just a bleeding heart." Topaz shouted. "And what makes you think that you can just leave me behind like you did?".

"You're a showoff. Always swooping in to steal my kills, and take a few more while you're there. I think you would appreciate flying solo, killing anyone you want from now on.".

"Aww, you do care. But that isn't the reason why I'm here. You're a failure Tourmaline. You failed to complete your mission, you've failed to kill your target, and you failed to accept the consequences. And now I must deliver your punishment _A THOUSANDFOLD!" _Topaz screamed as he summoned his sai.

Tourmaline assumed his fighting stance and summoned his grieve's edge. Topaz spun his sai around and then stopped them at the handle, the three prongs pointing outwards.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer you traitorous bastard." Topaz growled.

"I've been looking for a good reason to kick your ass anyway." Tourmaline shot back.

The two rushed towards each other, bloodlust in their eyes, malice in their hearts and the urge to kill rising. As they approached each other, the sky darkened and the sound of thunder could be heard.

"What did you say?" Pearl asked, horrified.

Ruby said nothing, only starring in pure terror. How could she? How could she say something like that? She wanted to runaway but she couldn't. She was frozen in that one place, trying desperately to say something, but only choking on her own words.

"He...he killed people? Humans?" Amethyst asked.

"He...he…" Ruby uttered.

"I can't...that monster!" Pearl exclaimed.

"He's not a monster!" Tanzanite shouted, "He's a good person!".

The crystal gems horrified expressions turned serious.

"A good person does not kill for any reason. What excuse does he have for his actions?" Garnet asked sternly.

"He grew up seeing the worst side of humanity. Centuries of neglect and hatred were all that he had. He grew up thinking that this world was ugly, that humans were terrible. He didn't know how they really are. He didn't know anything other than violence." Ruby explained, still crushed with guilt.

"So he thinks that genocide is the answer to his problems?" Pearl said morbidly, "I don't think that's a valid excuse. Maybe we should ask him ourselves.".

The crystal trio turned to exit the house but Ruby, Sapphire and Tanzanite blocked the way to the door.

"Move." Garnet demanded.

"No, not until you hear us out!" Ruby shouted.

"We've heard enough. We need to stop him." Pearl said.

"Stop him from what!? He's done nothing wrong ever since he met me!" Ruby yelled.

"Oh and how long would that be? A week, a month, a century? Come on, that amount of time can't measure up to how much time he spent being bad." Amethyst belted.

"He's changed! He wants to change! He wants to be good! If he were as bad as you think he is, I wouldn't be here arguing with you!" Ruby screamed.

"What are you talking about?" Garnet asked.

"A few months ago, he invaded my town's temple to steal an artifact. It protected my homeland from gem beasts. We fought but eventually I won. I showed him mercy and he returned it. During our fight I could tell he was starting to hold back. He was confused, he didn't know the side of humanity that I explained to him. He stopped some really bad people from ruining my home, risking his life for someone he just met. That's why I know he's a good guy at heart!" Ruby shouted.

"That may be admirable but one right doesn't justify a thousand wrongs." Pearl said.

"How about two?" Tanzanite stepped forward.

"Oh? And did he invade your temple and make up for his mistake too?" Pearl said mockingly.

"No. He saved my life. I was stranded in a weird forest, drugged by some pollen. The next thing I knew I was tied up in a cocoon. I don't know how long I was in there for, but the first thing I remember seeing when I was finally freed was him, Ruby and Sapphire. Then the beast came back. With our combined strength we defeated it. Then it happened. It shot one final attack at me, but Tourmaline pushed me out of the way in time. He was impaled, and then torn in half. He saved my life twice in one day. What kind of monster would risk his life for a person he just met?" Tanzanite said.

"Well that's pretty cool but still. Dude's a killer." Amethyst said nonchalantly, "And no sob story or two great acts are gonna change that.".

"How dare you! Tourmaline had a terrible life until he met us. He had nothing but anger, abuse, and hatred to deal with!" Ruby shouted.

"Oh boo hoo! I'm a monster filled with rage, why can't anything be right for me!?" Sapphire said mockingly.

"Sapphire!?" Tanzanite shouted, mortified.

"How could you even think that!?" Ruby shouted.

"At least one of you has some common sense. She understands that even though he's trying to bury his awful past, he's not going to be able to wash the blood of his hands." Pearl explained.

"No. That wasn't Tourmaline, that was me." Sapphire said as she walked up to Pearl.

Pearl stared in shock. What was she talking about? Soon she was standing right in front of her. Garnet looked down to the blue gem, and Amethyst looked up.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Amethyst asked curiously.

"Yes. You know how I was. You know what environment I was in. I've been where Tourmaline has been. I could've been Tourmaline! It would have been easy. I wouldn't know I was doing the wrong thing. But then you guys and Rose came and showed me the true way. You showed me compassion, you let me know what the world truly was. Tourmaline didn't have that privilege. He couldn't know what was truly wrong as his view of the human world was so narrow minded due to how mankind has treated him." Sapphire elaborated.

The crystal trio looked at each other. She had a point, but it's still too hard to just forget what he did. They didn't know how many people he killed, how many people he hurt, everything was too ambiguous. Pearl grabbed her arm and Amethyst bit her lip thinking about this. Just then, the door swung open and Steven came running in.

"Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl! Come quick, something terrible is gonna happen!" Steven shouted.

Steven ran into Sapphire and bounded off her leg. He looked up to see her and around the room to see all the gems. There was a tall one consoling a smaller one in the corner. The little one seemed extremely upset.

"What's going on? Who are you people?" Steven asked.

"We'll explain later. What terrible thing is going to happen?" Pearl asked.

"Well, I met this nice guy named Tourmaline. He told me this story and that he was a gem. We talked at the docks for a while and then we ran up the hill and now there's this guy named Topaz and he's Tourmaline's old partner or something and then Tourmaline yelled at me to go home and I know something bad is gonna happen you gotta come help him!" Steven rattled on.

"Wait, Topaz is here!?" Ruby yelled in disbelief.

"Oh so he has an accomplice. This is just getting better and better." Pearl said.

"He is nothing like Tourmaline! He's probably the reason he started killing people in the first place!" Ruby shouted.

"Oh really?" Pearl questioned.

"Yeah! When Tourmaline was torn in half, he reverted back into his gems. We went to leave the forest and then he showed up to take him away. He attacked us, he tried to kill us just to steal him away to punish or even kill him. He's a monster, not Tourmaline." Tanzanite explained.

"Any proof of this attack?" Amethyst asked.

Sapphire lifted her shirt and revealed a scar on her side. Tanzanite's scar was still there on her face. Lastly, Ruby unzipped her shirt and partially revealed her breast, scar still intact. Pearl covered Steven's eyes as she and the others looked at the scars.

"These are from his attack." Sapphire explained.

"They look pretty convincing to me." Amethyst shrugged.

"Well...how do we know that they aren't shape shifted?" Pearl asked.

"Cause we would've seen the light Pearl. They check out, so relax." Amethyst continued.

"I will not relax! Tourmaline has committed some serious crimes and he is on the loose in Beach City!" Pearl yelled.

"Pearl...why are you talking about Tourmaline like that?" Steven asked shyly.

Pearl looked down at Steven. His concerned expression made Pearl's anger dissipate. She was calm, for now.

"Steven. Tourmaline isn't nice. He's done some mean things to some people and he needs to answer for it." Pearl calmly explained.

"You mean about killing all those bad people?" Steven said curiously.

"Steven! How could you say that!? You don't know that! He could be lying to you! He has to be lying!" Pearl yelled.

"He said that the guys he went after were bad people who did bad stuff to other people. He was hired to take care of them because they didn't want other guys to risk getting hurt. I don't think the way he did it was right, but it was the only way he knew." Steven explained.

"That doesn't excuse anything. So what if he was alone? He could see that isn't the way a gem should use his powers on humans. He can't excuse his irrational way of acting." Pearl coldly explained.

Steven looked at her stunned, and then his expression turned angry. He couldn't believe what he was about to do, but he did it.

"And how did you feel when my mom died!?" Steven yelled at her.

Pearl was mortified by what Steven just said, and the other's were just as shocked by it.

"Steven?" Pearl sheepishly asked.

"How'd you feel huh? Scared, angry, lost? Well I bet that's what he felt all the time! I felt the same way a few times, but I have you guys. You're my family, you help me, you care about me. Tourmaline didn't have anyone like that in his life until now, and no one has the right to ruin that for him, not even you guys!" Steven stated.

"So you think that because he felt that way, he can get away with doing those things?" Garnet asked.

"People do bad things when they're angry or scared. That doesn't mean that they are bad people, they're just good people that did some bad things." Steven explained, "Tourmaline's like that. But now I think he might do something he's gonna regret, so you gotta help him!".

The crystal trio looked at each other again. As Pearl locked eyes with Amethyst, Garnet began to move towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"To stop whatever thing Tourmaline is in. Then I'm bringing him here for a talk." Garnet answered.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?" Tanzanite asked.

"Just a talk. I've heard enough from all of you. Maybe we were quick to judge, but now all that matters is what he says." Garnet again answered, "Unless you have some sort of objection?".

"I..no. No I don't." Pearl answered, "I guess we need to talk to sort this out.".

"I'm good with this. He seems like a nice guy, so I'll let him speak his piece." Amethyst said lazily.

"Thank you!" Ruby exclaimed, "He's gone through so much, he doesn't need anymore damage!".

"You all stay here. I'll be right back with him." Garnet said as she walked out the door.

The gems all relaxed, save Taz, who was still upset by this whole revelation. Tanza did her best to calm her down, but even she was shocked by this. She knew Tourmaline had done some bad things, but murder? Taz had tears streaming down her face. She couldn't believe Tourmaline did those things, she didn't want to believe it. Just then the two felt Tanzanite touch their shoulders. She brought them both in, embracing both of them. She knew they needed it.

"Tanzanite...is Tourmaline a bad person?" Taz asked.

"No he's not." Tanzanite responded calmly.

"Why would he do something like that?" Taz asked.

"He didn't know any better. He was an angry kid who didn't know the bright side of life. He was...he was misguided." Tanzanite tried to explain, "That's why he needs us. He wants to be a good guy but he doesn't know how. We have to show him the good side of everything.".

Taz was silent. She just held Tanza and Tanzanite as tightly as she could. Tanza did the same. She had to be strong. For Taz, and for Tourmaline.

Across the room, Steven clung to Pearl's legs. She looked down and saw his face buried deep between them.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I talked about mom like that. I didn't mean to be so mean, I just didn't want you to think he was a bad guy." Steven sobbed.

Pearl lightly pushed Steven off of her legs. She knelt down and looked him in the eyes and then hugged him tightly.

"It's okay Steven. I needed that to see his perspective. I don't know what I would've done when Rose disappeared without Garnet, Amethyst or you to give me hope. Tourmaline needs that kind of hope now, and I don't have the heart to take that away from him." Pearl said softly.

Steven hugged her back. Amethyst walked up to the two of them and gave them both a hug. Steven and Pearl extended an arm to invite her in. They could have stayed like that forever, but then Garnet rushed back into the house.

"Huh? Where's Tourmaline? Ruby asked.

"He has to wait. Something big has come up." Garnet stated.

"What are you talking about?" Pearl asked.

"Come outside and see." Garnet invited.

Garnet left the door opened and turned to the railing. Rain hammered down outside, and lightning struck just yards in front of the house. The gems and Steven ran outside to see a giant black shape swimming towards the coastline.

"The mystery beast is here already!?" Pearl panicked.

"Oh no...we wasted so much time with the whole Tourmaline thing...this is our fault." Tanzanite said mortified.

"Don't worry about that. We should have focused more ourselves but we got sidetracked. Now all that doesn't matter. We have to take this thing on now!" Garnet exclaimed.

Garnet's hands glowed and formed two giant gauntlets and jumped off of the railing to the beach below. Sapphire summoned her claws and Ruby summoned her swords, jumping down to meet Garnet. Amethyst summoned two whips from her chest and leapt down as well. Tanzanite summoned her sword and followed Amethyst. Pearl summoned her glaive and Tanza summoned her boots. The two looked at Steven and Taz.

"Steven, stay inside. It's too dangerous for you to be here right now." Pearl demanded.

"You too Taz." Tanza copied.

"But I have a weapon!" Taz stated as she summoned a wand from her hands, "I can help!".

"Me too!" Steven argued.

"We don't have time for this! We already explained the circumstances to you. Just stay inside and stay safe for us!" Pearl yelled.

With that Pearl and Tanza leapt into the air to meet their comrades, now rushing towards the open ocean to meet the monster. Steven and Taz looked at them and then at each other. Steven went up to the door, but couldn't open it. He didn't want to stay out of this fight. His friends could be in danger. He looked at Taz and she nodded in silent agreement. The two looked onwards from the patio deck. All the gems were about to battle a great beast that could destroy the city, but the thought of Tourmaline still crept in their heads.

Topaz lunged in, stabbing wildly towards Tourmaline. Tourmaline dodged each and every attack, moving the sharp prongs away from his body and countering with a knee to Topaz's jaw, sending his head flying backwards and lifting his entire body up. Tourmaline quickly spun around and delivered a back kick to the mid-air Topaz, his body flying back and rolling down the hill. He stopped himself by stabbing his sai into the ground, causing his body to go flat with a thud. He looked up to see Tourmaline leaping towards him. He rolled out of his landing zone as Tourmaline sent his heel crashing into the earth, splitting it apart and sending dirt and grass flying in his blast zone. Topaz jumped to his feet and rushed Tourmaline once more, aiming his blades toward Tourmaline's face. Tourmaline dodged, but the sai still cut part of his face. Tourmaline delivered a roundhouse to Topaz's ribs, the blade sinking between them and getting him away from Tourmaline. Blood trickled down Tourmaline's face and an orange splotch began to form where Tourmaline hit him.

"You've grown stronger." Topaz congratulated, "To think that you're little vacation would give you such power.".

"I've just upgraded to more powerful prey. Unlike you who still hunts the weak, I've decided to fight something of a much higher caliber." Tourmaline said.

"Oh really now? Since when have you called it hunting?"

"Since I realized that's just what I did. Hunt weak cowards that have to abuse their power to harm others. They aren't worth my time, human affairs are not any of my business. I know my true calling." Tourmaline explained.

"How noble of you. Let me give you a death worthy of a hero!" Topaz shouted as he rushed towards Tourmaline with sai in hand.

Topaz stabbed and swung his blades at Tourmaline, but Tourmaline dodged each attack once again. Tourmaline tried to kick Topaz away, but Topaz dodged out of the way and grabbed his leg. Panicking, Tourmaline fell back and threw Topaz backwards, unable to maintain his hold on the leg. Tourmaline fell to the ground and Topaz landed on his feet. As Tourmaline jumped up, Topaz stabbed one of his sai's into his shoulder. Tourmaline yelled in pain, and Topaz felt an ecstasy he has long since lost. Making others suffer just filled him with a wonderful sense of euphoria, and he had Tourmaline right where he wanted him. He twirled his other sai around and drove it straight into Tourmaline's lower back, over and over again. Tourmaline clenched his teeth in pain and mustered up all his strength to fight back. He flung his head back, smacking Topaz in the nose, making him let go of the two sai's now embedded in Tourmaline. Tourmaline turned to face his assailant and delivered a flurry of kicks and punches, each one landing. He spun and delivered a hard elbow to Topaz's head, knocking him over. Tourmaline grabbed his shirt as he fell and yanked him towards him, delivering another vicious headbutt. As Topaz staggered back, Tourmaline delivered a pair of roundhouse kicks, the blades tearing through Topaz's chest. A pair of orange cuts dripped blood and Topaz stared in shock.

"I take back what I said. I'm going to make you suffer!" Topaz shouted.

Topaz flipped over Tourmaline, ripping out the first sai from his shoulder. As he landed, he turned around quickly and tore out the other one from Tourmaline's lower abdomen and kicked Tourmaline away. Tourmaline stepped forward and turned towards Topaz, anger flowing from his eyes like the blood from their wounds. In that moment, Tourmaline forgot about Steven, his friends, everything left his mind except one little thought.

"_I will kill him"._

The sea shook and churned as the gems rushed into the water to confront the beast. Pearl ran across the water along with Tanzanite as their comrades were already battling the monster under the waves. Amethyst swung her whip above the water, causing the sea to part with each crack of her whip. Ruby and Tanzanite stabbed at the yellow lights in the black figure, failing to reach the monster through the deep water. Suddenly, a thin tentacle shot out through the water at Amethyst. She fell back, losing her footing and got engulfed in the sea. Pearl pulled her out of the churning deep and Amethyst regained her footing on the water's surface. Ten more tentacles rose out of the water.

"Where's Garnet and Sapphire!?" Pearl shouted over the crashing waves.

"Underwater trying to stop this thing from going any further!" Amethyst answered.

Underneath the waves, Sapphire clawed at the underbelly of the mystery beast, still unable to identify it in the black murky water. Garnet struck the creatures large head, dodging what appeared to be massive jaws. The tentacles lashed out at Ruby and Tanzanite, some stabbing downwards while others swung across the water's surface. One of the tentacles managed to wrap around Tanzanite. Before she could swing down, it lifted her into the air, whipping her around. Ruby saw her friend in trouble and threw one of her swords at the tentacle's base. The appendage was severed and Tanzanite went flying towards the shoreline. Pearl leapt into the air and sliced two tentacles in half. The remaining tentacles went after her, but she gracefully dodged them all and managed to sever another one. Tanza leapt into the air and cut the remaining tentacles in half. A monstrous groan was heard underneath the waves, as a large spasm of bubbles erupted a few feet away from the tentacles. The beast retracted it's tentacles and slowly rose to the surface, exposing large, scaly back and shiny yellow jewels. They stared up to the sky like cat eyes, and a mysterious noise came from beneath the waves as more bubbles came around the beast's hulking back.

"This thing is enormous!" Ruby exclaimed.

"But it has to be getting weaker." Pearl shouted back, "Come on! It's almost at the beach!"

Garnet was still underwater, now pressing against the giant monsters head, swimming against it to try to impede its progress, occasionally punching it in the head. Sapphire clawed at the underbelly, only managing to scrape away what appeared to be scales. She kept going, inky blood slowly seeping out of her small cuts, until she saw the shadow of a great, clawed hand coming towards her. She kicked off the creatures belly and swam a little farther out of it's reach. She looked up to the black sky above the waves. A lighting bolt illuminated the monster's figure. They thought it was big before, but this blew their idea out of the water. Garnet looked like a minnow trying to push against a shark. The beast's arms and legs were massive, each one at least twice as long as Garnet. It had a gargantuan tail, bigger than it's own body. And lastly, it had a massive, crocodile like head.

"_What the hell is this!? How are we supposed to take something like this down!?" _she thought to herself.

Pearl leapt into the air, did a flip and brought her spear down towards the beast's back, aiming for one of the glowing jewels. Just then, the beast lowered it's head, dragging Garnet down with it. It curled it's back and between it's back plates, jaws opened up. Pearl's eye's widened as she saw the back of this giant reptilian beast morph into a legion of yellow-eyed demons opening their mouths for their meal like baby birds pleading for food. Pearl felt something wrap around her, snapping her out of her daze. Before she could look to see what it was, she was jerked out of the air. She gracefully flipped back and landed next to Amethyst, her whip wrapped around Pearl's stomach.

"Thanks for the save." Pearl said.

"Don't mention it." Amethyst said, "You think we should have brought the gem sloop?".

"In this weather, against this thing? It would have capsized it in an instant." Pearl argued.

Amethyst grumbled and whipped at the creatures jewels. The creature flinched in pain as she flayed the eyes. The creature's mouths were still wide open, so approaching was far too risky. Pearl aimed her spear and with one toss she managed to pierce one of the eyes. Black goop spurt from the shattered jewel and the creature roared in pain, the sound muffled by the water. Ruby and Tanzanite threw their swords at the other eye. Tanzanite's missed but Ruby's hit dead on. One pair out of eight were destroyed. Quickly the gems beamed their weapons back, readying their aim towards the other pair. Under the waves, Garnet still struggled to keep the monster from moving, now with Sapphire helping her. As she struggled, Garnet's third eye looked up from underneath the waves and saw something terrifying. The black clouds swirled around and in the center, a light slowly grew. She knew what was about to happen. She turned to Sapphire and tried to tell her to run, but her words were mere glubs under the water. Sapphire looked on confused, but then Garnet grabbed her and tossed her out of the water. The other gems turned to see Sapphire fly out of the water, and Garnet quickly surfaced, gasping for air.

"Everyone! Move away now!" She yelled.

"What, but the beast is about to-" Pearl yelled before getting cut off.

"I said NOW! No time to explain!" Garnet yelled as she swam towards the shoreline.

The gems turned to Garnet and against their better judgment, followed the tall gem all the way to the shoreline, leaving the creature behind. As they all ran onto the beach, they turned back to see the light in the sky grow brighter and brighter. And then, a massive bolt of lightning struck the creature.

"We would've been fried!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yeah, but we didn't. And now that thing is gone! All we gotta do now is go diving for it's gem." Amethyst shouted excitedly.

"No." Garnet said sternly. "That bolt wasn't enough to kill it.".

"How can you be so sure?" Pearl asked.

"Why would a creature's own attack be able to kill it like that?" Garnet asked back.

"Wha- so it is the cause of this storm!" Pearl realized.

"Yes, and now we have to deal with it here." Garnet stated.

"At least it's more stable for us here." Tanza said.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Sapphire responded.

The gems turned to Sapphire.

"I saw it's outline during a lightning strike, and it looks like a-" Sapphire went on until she saw the water by she shore began to see something rising out of the shore's water.

The creature rose from the waves and revealed it's true form. It stood on two legs, towering at least 3 stories tall, and it's gangly, muscular arms reached to it's knees. It's body was thick and muscular, toned and covered with onyx scales, save for it's grey, scratched up underbelly. It's thick tail slammed against the water, causing a massive splash and showing the large rows of spikes acutely pointing downwards. It had ripples over it's arms, one at least a yard away from the other, as well as over it's legs. The largest ripples being on it's joints. Lastly, was the creature's head. A long, broad snout housed yards of sharp, jagged, crooked teeth and three pairs of soulless blue eyes, lacking proper irises, only housing black slits across. The monster stared at the gems, and the gems stared back at the creature.

"What are we going to do against this thing? It's huge!" Pearl whispered to Garnet.

"The answer is obvious. We need Opal." Garnet answered.

"What!?" Pearl and Amethyst exclaimed.

The two quickly shut their mouths, but it was too late. The beasts slit's narrowed even further and it let out a mighty roar as loud as thunder. As it reared back the ripples in it's skin separated to reveal sets of jaws spread across it's body, each roaring in unison with it's massive host. The gems assumed their battle positions. They were in for one hell of a fight. Garnet grabbed Pearl and Amethyst and threw them behind the rest of the group. The two fell with a thud as they looked at their leader in astonishment.

"We'll stall for time! Form Opal now!" Garnet ordered.

Topaz was punched in the face, his head flung back as teeth and blood escaped his maw. Tourmaline was now covered with stab wounds and Topaz was sliced everywhere. Each blow from them caused blood to spill from their open wounds. Tourmaline followed up his first punch with another to Topaz's stomach. He grabbed Topaz's head and slammed towards his rising knee. Topaz staggered back and Tourmaline delivered another roundhouse. This time, the blade was driven directly into one of the jewels on Topaz's side. The yellow gem cracked and shattered as the blade carved into the stone. Topaz let out a cry of agony as he was knocked to the ground. He gripped his shattered stone and seethed with pain.

"You...rotten...detestable...piece of...crap!" He managed to spit at Tourmaline.

Tourmaline looked over the wounded Topaz with disgust. He stomped on Topaz's shattered gem, making him wince in pain each and every time. Then he kicked Topaz square in the gut with his blade. His body was lifted up into the air and the blade tore an even bigger hole in his stomach as it torn his skin and sent him rolling. Topaz was in an immense amount of pain, and Tourmaline had no intention in stopping. Topaz grabbed for his belt but Tourmaline kicked him in the back, freezing him in place as the pain escalated even higher. Tourmaline reached down and ripped off Topaz's belt, throwing to the top of the hill. Tourmaline raised his leg high into the air, preparing to drop a massive axe kick onto Topaz's uninjured gem. He readied his strike but suddenly, a roar echoed from across the hill. He placed his foot down and looked backwards. The roaring continued and the sound of rocks being crushed and cries from the gems echoed throughout the air.

Ignoring Topaz on the ground, he turned and ran up the hill and looked down to see the source of the sound. A giant creature was battling the gems. Sapphire clung onto the creature's chest trying to stab into it, Ruby and Tanzanite tried desperately to find an opening, but only being caught by the creatures vicious slashes and punches. Garnet clung onto the creature's head, punching it's eyes as the creature tried to shake her off. Tanza was skating around to build enough momentum to deliver a huge attack. Pearl and Amethyst were doing some odd dance. The two got close and a light enveloped them but the light disappeared and the two were sent flying back. They seemed to be arguing and Taz and Steven were watching helplessly from the balcony. Steven grabbed Taz by the hand and brought her inside. He couldn't believe what was happening. Tanza rushed into to attack the creature, but the monster spun it's massive tail towards her, sending her flying back and smashing through a few large rocks on the beach. Tourmaline readied himself to jump from the hill.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Topaz said as he dragged himself towards Tourmaline.

Tourmaline turned back to his wounded adversary, looking down at him as he dragged his sliced up body.

"This isn't over. You have a fight to finish." He said as he picked himself off the ground.

"No. It isn't. But I have something I have to take care of first." Tourmaline stated.

"So you're just going to run away *cough*? Just go to your friend's rescue just because things are a little dicey?" Topaz mocked.

"Yes." Tourmaline stated.

"Why do you fight for them? Why do you care so much?" Topaz asked.

"...It's because if it wasn't for them, I would be empty. Life would just be a meaningless pursuit. Going across the world, killing for a need that I don't even have. Ruby showed me that there are humans that truly show compassion for each other, that care for one another. Sapphire showed me it was possible to meet new people and be friends with them. Tanzanite showed me what it's like to protect instead of kill. And Tanza and Taz showed me what it truly means to have someone you care about, despite your own intentions. I don't care what happens to me anymore. All that matters is that I protect them!" Tourmaline stated.

Topaz stared at him, flabbergasted. Before he could speak, a scream was heard. The monster had Ruby in it's grasp, crushing her with it's grip. Tourmaline looked down in horror, and turned to Topaz and kicked him to the ground. Topaz rolled for a bit before stopping himself. Tourmaline turned to run off the hill but stopped for a bit when he heard Topaz again.

"Tourmaline!" Topaz shouted.

Tourmaline turned to him.

"Don't die down there. I'm not accepting any other means of victory from an outside source.".

Tourmaline nodded. "Just take a breather, this won't take long.".

Tourmaline ran forward and jumped off the hill, diving into the battle as the beast hoisted Ruby over it's head. Topaz rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky, letting the raindrops wash away the blood from his wounds and face.

"_He's still the same cocky brat. At least that much hasn't changed about him_." He thought to himself.

The gem's were doing their best to keep the creature's attention as Pearl and Amethyst tried to do the fusion right. They were climbing all over the monster trying to do some damage to it, only being able to break off a few scales at a time. Garnet was doing the most damage, punching the monster's eyes as it tried to shake her off its head. Ruby and Tanzanite could only whack it's legs with their swords, bouncing off it's thick scales. Sapphire clung onto the creature's softer chest and underbelly. Clawing desperately to get to somewhere vital. The creature quickly grabbed Sapphire with one hand, and proceeded to squeeze her with both. She screamed in pain as her bone's began to crack. Garnet saw her ally in trouble and slammed her fist into one of the creature's eyes as hard as she could. The beast let out a cry of pain and let go of Sapphire to try and grab Garnet. Sapphire fell to the ground and writhed in pain. Tanzanite ran to her friend.

"Can you walk? Can you still fight?" Tanzanite asked, fearing for her friend.

"Yeah...I'm okay." Sapphire said as she rose to her feet.

Meanwhile, Pearl and Amethyst tried their best to get the fusion done. Pearl and Amethyst danced together to begin the ritual. The two moved gracefully closer together, a light enveloped the two of them, and then the were blown apart.

"Amethyst focus!" Pearl shouted.

"You focus! This isn't really an easy time for me!" Amethyst argued.

"I...I know. But Garnet and the other's need Opal now! So focus and lets get this over with!" Pearl shouted back.

Amethyst was quiet for a second, her mouth hanging open. After a second, she nodded and was ready to try again. Before they could start, their concentration was broken by the sound of Tanza being slammed through the beach's rocks.

"We need to hurry!" Pearl exclaimed.

"I'm trying!" Amethyst shot back.

Above at the house, Taz looked away. The sight of seeing her best friend pummeled like that was too much. Steven held her hands and she looked at the young boy.

"It's gonna be okay. They're the gems. They've handled worse." Steven reassured.

"I don't know...I just want to help and not be a burden. They're our friends! We have to do something!" Taz cried.

Steven scratched his head, and then he beamed. He took Taz by the hand and went into the house.

"I know what we can do! I just need a hand!" Steven exclaimed.

"Okay! What do you need me to do?" Taz asked.

Outside, the creature managed to grab a hold of Garnet with one of it's spare jaws. The jaws locked around Garnet's shoulder. She looked over to see the beast's black clawed hand and arm. She was caught on a jaw on the creature's wrist. Purple blood spurted from her wound. She tried to pry the jaws open with her free arm, but the creature flung her towards the hill's stone wall. She managed to save flip mid air and land on the wall, but the force was too great and she couldn't recover. She fell to the sandy floor and slowly got back up. Just then, she heard a scream. She looked over at the monster and saw that it had got a hold of Ruby. It's squeezed her hard, cracking bone and causing more pain. The beast punched her into a rock, shattering it as the other's tried desperately to get it to let go of her. Garnet ran towards the monster, intent on saving the young gem.

Ruby was practically unconscious. The entire world was blurry, she could barely keep her eyes open, and all the sound in the world was muffled. The beast raised her into the air high above it's head and opened it's wide main jaws. She felt the creature release her as she began to fall into the monster's jaws. She heard the barely audible screams of her friends. She was giving up hope. She was done for.

Suddenly, the beasts jaws slammed shut, inches away from her, and the monster fell back. She fell further but was caught by someone. Was it Garnet? Who else could knock the monster down. She tried her best to open her eyes and looked up to see Tourmaline, blood on his brow, fire in his eyes.

"Tour...Tourmaline?" She uttered.

Tourmaline ran back towards Pearl and Amethyst as the beast tried to recover from the blow. They saw what happened. Tourmaline fell from the sky and kicked the monster square in the chest, knocking it over. He leaped over to them and placed Ruby against one of the support beams for their house.

"Keep her safe!" Tourmaline shouted.

Before the two could respond, he was already running back towards the monster. The monster was slowly rising up and Tourmaline leapt straight onto the creature's face. Driving the blade's on his shoes into the creature's lower jaw, Tourmaline morphed his hand into a sharp blade and drove it straight into one of the monster's blacked, bruised eyes. The monster screamed in pain as Tourmaline stabbed each eye. Tourmaline just finished with the third eye when he was grabbed and thrown into the shallow water. A massive ripple formed as he went crashing into the water. The beast was about to stomp on him when a bolt of light struck it in the back. The beast staggered, tripping and nearly falling on Tourmaline. Tourmaline looked over to see a tall woman, easily twice the size of Garnet wielding a bow and arrow with two pairs of arms. Pearl and Amethyst were no where to be seen. Garnet picked up Tourmaline and dragged him away from the monster.

"What's going on? Who is that?" He asked Garnet.

"That's Opal. The fusion of Pearl and Amethyst." Garnet said as the other's joined them, "We've done all we could, it's up to her now.".

As they made it to the house, Opal began to walk towards the creature.

"Stay low. This won't take long." Opal said in a smooth voice.

The other's stayed put as the creature got up and roared at Opal, enraged by the attack wounding his back gems. Opal's walk turned into a sprint, firing arrow after arrow at the monster. The beast sloppily dodged the arrows, only receiving nicks and cuts from the flying energy bolts. The beast lunged at Opal, claws aimed forward, but Opal caught the monster with her bow, flipping it backwards. The beast flew through the air and landed with a huge thud, causing sand to fly everywhere. Opal aimed her bow once more and shot the beast's back multiple times. Large clusters of explosions dispersed all over the creatures back, destroying the yellow gems and causing the creature to scream in agony. After her assault was finished, the beast was still. It's eyes were closed, and it appeared dead. Opal took a deep breath and walked towards the other gems. The other's cheered for their saviour, but Tourmaline was still uncertain. While the other's were focused on Opal, he was eyeballing the monster. He looked at it's face, and saw an eye twitch. He ran in front of the others to warn Opal.

"Opal! Stop! It's still alive!" He screamed.

As Opal heard Tourmaline's warning, the beast sprung back to life. It's remaining eyes were now a scarlet red, and it's other mouths were dripping black blood. Opal turned to face the monster but was quickly impaled by the spare mouth's tongues. Three went into her chest and the rest wrapped around her arms and legs. Before She could break free, the tongues generated a powerful electrical shock. Opal screamed in pain as the electricity coursed through her body. She glowed slightly and then separated into Pearl and Amethyst. The two fell to the ground, in immense pain. Pearl was able to stand, but just barely. The creature stood there, tongues whipping in every direction, confused by the disappearance of the giant woman. She went to pick up Amethyst, as she was in much worse condition than her.

"Come on Amethyst! Move please! At least say something! Let me know you're okay!" Pearl screamed as she desperately dragged Amethyst, only getting a few murmurs in response.

The other's ran to protect their friend. The beast lashed it's tongues out at the two, and the other's tried desperately to stop it. Tanzanite once again threw their swords, this time severing four out of the ten tongues. Garnet and Sapphire leapt at the tongues, Garnet being able to grab two and Sapphire managing to stop one. The three remaining tongues dashed past them towards Pearl and Amethyst. Pearl grabbed Amethyst and covered her, hoping to shield her from even more damage. She heard the sound of flesh being impaled and tensed up. She crouched there, holding Amethyst for a second. She slowly turned to see Tourmaline's back, and three tongues sticking out of him. His body was soaked with blood, the green streams flowing from the newly formed holes and old one's alike, being washed from the rain. All was silent for what felt like an eternity, and then the tongues began to charge, and then Tourmaline screamed. The pain was unimaginable, as Tourmaline felt the electricity flow through him, tearing him apart from the inside.

"Tourmaline!" Everyone shouted.

The creature stared down at his victim, ready to finish him off. Suddenly, the creature's remaining tongues were severed by something. The other's looked to see Ruby's swords, and turned to see a barely conscious Ruby standing. Tourmaline fell to the ground, foam at the corner of his mouth, his newly made wounds seared shut.

"Leave..him...alone." Ruby uttered as she passed out.

Tanza quickly skated to pick up Tourmaline and Garnet grabbed Pearl and Amethyst, with Sapphire and Tanzanite following close behind. The creature was screaming in agony as blood spilled from each and everyone of it's mouths. Tourmaline, Amethyst and Pearl were lied down next to Ruby.

"So what do we do now!?" Sapphire shouted.

"I don't know! I thought Opal would be enough, I didn't expect any of this!" Garnet shouted.

"Well what are we supposed to do now?" Tanzanite asked.

Before Garnet could speak, the sound of something dragging against the deck filled the air. Garnet leapt up the to the deck to see Steven and Taz dragging out the laser light canon.

"We can help!" Steven said.

"I'm glad you can!" Garnet shouted as she helped them bring the canon over. Sapphire, Tanza and Tanzanite came up to see the giant cannon. The cannon was in place, and Steven latched onto it. He concentrated and his gem began to glow, the top the the canon transformed into a rose in bloom. Garnet caught the cannon before it fell but struggled to keep it up. The other's quickly moved to help her. The group aimed the charging cannon at the writhing beast.

"Brace yourselves!" Garnet shouted.

The cannon shot a pink beam. It morphed into a rose and then a woman summoning more roses. The beast, turned towards the light did his best to resist the blast. It's legs tired, it's mouths sagging open dripping blood, it was a fruitless effort. The monster was consumed by the light and exploded into a shower of pink and black. The gems just stared in astonishment.

"We...we did it." Steven uttered.

Tanza looked down at Taz and she looked up to her friend. The beaten and battered Tanza smiled at her.

"Good job Topaz." She said cheerfully.

"Tha-Thank you!" Taz beamed.

Steven and the other's began to bring the cannon back into the house as Garnet went to grab the monster's gem. She walked slowly, still hurting, still exhausted from the fight. In the charred remains was a yellow gem with black splotches at the bases. She formed a bubble around it and sent it away. Then she fell back and let out a deep breath. She let the rain wash over her for a minute and then she got up and turned to her weakened friends. She got to the passed out crew, but her eyes widened when she got there.

"Everyone! Come quick!" She shouted.

Just then, all the remaining gems leapt from the deck to Garnet.

"What's wrong?" Taz asked.

"Tourmaline is gone!" She shouted.

Topaz remained still, listening in on the fight from his position. He was still in an obscene amount of pain, but could manage to stay awake. He turned his head to see Tourmaline, practically limping up the hill. He slowly sat up, and painfully got to his feet. He looked down at Tourmaline, charred and bleeding.

"You got the crap kicked out of you, huh?" Topaz joked.

"Think of it as a handicap." Tourmaline said as he assumed his stance, "Come on. Let's end this.".

"Yes...lets." Topaz said as he grabbed his sai.

Tourmaline rushed towards Topaz, and so did Topaz. The two exchanged blow after blow, slice after slice. As they fought the rain came down harder, the sight of green and yellow flying through the air became more and more apparent. Tourmaline was slipping. As they moved towards the edge of the hill, it became harder to see, his movements became sluggish. He knew it was over. It was finally his time to die, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't go out fighting. They made it to the top of the hill and Tourmaline managed to get Topaz off of him. The two gasped for air, staring each other down. Then the two ran towards each other, leaping into the air. Tourmaline extended his leg into a flying sidekick, and Topaz rose one of his sai mid air and was ready to send it stabbing downwards. They were only a foot away, about to collide, and Tourmaline missed the kick, only slicing into Topaz's abdomen. Topaz tackled him to the ground, holding one shoulder down, and having his sai aimed high. It was over.

"Go on...end it." Tourmaline said.

Topaz breathed heavily, and dropped the sai, landing next to him and Tourmaline.

"No...you've won. It's pointless to try anymore." Topaz admitted.

"What are you talking about?" Tourmaline asked.

Topaz stood up and showed the side where Tourmaline previously wounded him, the cracked and shattered gem still there. Then he showed his other side where he cut him midair. Tourmaline sliced through his other gem. Tourmaline stared in amazement as he rose to his feet.

"A gem whose gems are destroyed has no reason to fight. It's over...you've won." Topaz stated as he picked up his belt.

Tourmaline walked up to Topaz, with a new sense of empathy. The bloodthirsty Topaz he knew...just giving up like that? Topaz walked to the side of Tourmaline, looking down at the hill.

"I guess it isn't my purpose to go after people. Losing to you made me realize that. You've done so much for the people you care about, and in return they've given you a new life. I have to admit I'm envious. But I accept my fate." He said as he pulled something out of his belt, "It's also law that an assassin must die if he loses a fight.".

"Wha-what are you talking about?" Tourmaline said concerned.

"Tourmaline!" The two heard some people shout. They looked down to see the gems running towards them.

"You have people that truly care about you Tourmaline." Topaz said as he turned towards Tourmaline, "If this is the life you choose, they're your clients now. You protect them, you do what you must for them. Never fail them.".

Tourmaline looked to see the object in his hand. Tourmaline's eyes widened when he saw that it was a grenade. Topaz pulled the pin, and bit the black explosive.

"WAIT! TOPAZ, NO!" Tourmaline screamed as he tried to swipe the explosive out of Topaz's mouth.

But it was too late. The grenade went off, blowing Topaz's upper half clean off. The force of the explosion blew off the arm Tourmaline extended towards him and sent him flying off the cliff. Time all but crept to a standstill. Yellow and green blood fell along with Tourmaline, he stared up to the dark sky, the rain falling down intertwined with the streams of blood.

"_Forgive me Topaz...I never meant to shame you." _Tourmaline thought to himself as he faded away into his gems. The two rectangular prisms of Tourmaline and the shattered Jade fell along with the rain and green and yellow blood. Before they hit the roof of Steven's house, Pearl and Amethyst leapt up and saved the gems. Pearl had Tourmaline and Amethyst had Jade. Pearl looked down at the slabs.

"I'm sorry for ever doubting who you really were." Pearl said as she held the gems close to her chest.

The others leapt down from the hill to see Tourmaline. Tanza grabbed him away from Pearl. Everyone was stunned by what happened. Garnet placed her hand on Tanza's shoulder.

"Lets go inside. We've had a long day, and we all need some rest." Garnet suggested.

Tanza looked at Tourmaline's gems, and back to Garnet, giving her a nod. The other's leapt off the roof and went inside,while Sapphire leapt down to the beach and picked up Ruby. They all went inside and all sat down. Tanza placed a pillow on her lap, and then put Tourmaline on the pillow. Taz sat next to her and put her head against Tanzas arm. Sapphire came in carrying Ruby. She sat next to Tanza and Ruby fell out of her arms, landing next to Tourmaline. Ruby opened her eyes slightly to see Tourmaline's gems. Slowly she moved her arm toward him, and brought the gems next to her chest, tears silently flowing down her face. Tanzanite came over and plopped next to Sapphire. Soon enough, all the gems had shut their eyes and fell asleep. The crystal trio looked at the sight.

"Do you still want to question Tourmaline after this?" Amethyst asked sheepishly.

"No. I can see that he truly is a good person. Plus I owe him for saving you anyway." Pearl said.

"Excuse me?" Amethyst said.

"Uh, I mean us!" Pearl said, slightly blushing.

"That's enough you two. We should all get some rest." Garnet ordered.

"Yeah, come on Steven….Steven?" Pearl said.

She turned to see Steven on the ground, snoring and slightly drooling. Pearl picked him up and brought him upstairs. Garnet and Amethyst followed her to his bed. Pearl tried to put Steven in bed, but just collapsed on the bed. Garnet came over and picked the two of them up while Amethyst pulled the covers back. Garnet placed the two under the covers and Amethyst joined them.

"Come on G. You know you want to get some rest as bad as us." Amethyst suggested.

Garnet shrugged slightly and got under the covers with her family. Amethyst pulled the covers over them all and immediately fell asleep. Pearl and Steven had already passed out. Garnet looked out the window at the rain. The harsh drops now simmering down to a mild drizzle.

"_Looks like this rain isn't going to last the night." _Garnet thought to herself as she was lulled sleep, "_Lets hope that means tomorrow is going to be a better day.". _

The morning sun shined upon the crystal gems. Steven rubbed his eyes as he woke up. His first sight of the day was Pearl and Amethyst cuddling in their sleep, while he was sandwiched between them and Garnet, who was holding them all. Steven didn't want to wake them up, so he shimmied his way out as carefully as he could. As he slowly crept towards the stairs, he heard the sheets rustle. He slowly turned to see Garnet move the others in closer. Steven smiled to himself and slowly walked down the stairs. He looked over to see the other gems sleeping on the couch, clustered around Tourmaline's gems. He didn't know any of their names yet, but they were Tourmaline's friends, so he had to get to know them when they woke up. For now, he walked over to Tourmlaine and looked at the gems. He reached out and touched one of them, still being held by Ruby.

"I knew you were a good guy." Steven said softly.

Just then, his gem began to glow. Steven looked down and lifted his shirt to see his gem glowing bright. He did his best to stay calm, trying not to wake up the others. But then suddenly, a pink orb of light popped out of his gem, and went straight into Tourmaline. Steven had no idea what just happened, it was a huge shock that he doubted no one could explain. Just then, he heard a yawn. He looked up to see the tan girl with purple hair slowly wake up. She looked down at Steven, half asleep still.

"Uh, good morning." Steven said nervously.

"Good morning." Tanza replied back.

"Um, what's your name again?" Steven modestly asked.

"Oh I'm sorry, we never introduced ourselves to you. I'm Tanzanite, but everyone calls me Tanza because of our friend here. She's also named Tanzanite. This is Topaz, but everyone calls her Taz, for reasons now obvious. And this is Ruby and Sapphire. They've known Tourmaline the longest." Tanza explained.

Just then, the other gems began to yawn and wake up. Ruby rose from Tanza's lap, still slightly holding Tourmaline's gems. The other's just sat up. From upstairs, they could hear the crystal trio waking up. Shortly after, they all came walking down the stairs and faced the other gems.

"Morning. How did you all sleep?" Pearl asked.

"Fine." Ruby spoke for them all.

"So...how long do you think Tourmaline's gonna be stuck like that?" Amethyst asked.

"I don't know. He could have came back now for all we know." Tanzanite said.

"Well you're more than welcome to stay here while he recuperates." Pearl offered.

"Thank you." Sapphire said.

Steven was in the kitchen grabbing some breakfast while the gems were talking.

"Would you like anything to eat? Do any of you actually like doing that?" Pearl asked.

"I'll take something." Taz stated.

"Come over here! We got lots of stuff, take your pick!" Steven said invitingly.

Taz walked towards the kitchen and all the other gems began to stand up.

"You know, I have to say we got a pretty bad first impression of Tourmaline. I mean that's changed now but still." Pearl stated, "So...while he's recovering...would you care to tell us about the Tourmaline you all know?".

The gems looked at each other and back to Pearl and smiled.

"We'd be happy to." Ruby beamed.

Inside Tourmaline's gem there was only blackness. Tourmaline was once again in the void. He was falling through an infinite space, recollecting his past events. The monster, Topaz, everything was still on his mind. He just wanted to see his mom again, hell maybe that weird doppelganger thing. Anything beats just falling and doing nothing. Just then, a voice echoed through the void. It was his own.

"So you've finally done it haven't you?" The copy's voice said.

"Done what?" Tourmaline responded.

"You've finally conquered your inner demons, realized your true purpose, and severed ties with your bloodstained past." The copy answered.

"I guess so." Tourmaline responded, "Where are you anyway?"

"Why I'm right next to you. I'm all around you. I'm just a voice after all." The copy laughed.

"What? But you always appeared as me before." Tourmaline said puzzled.

"That's because you had a much less stable mind back then. I could do whatever I wanted. But now...you're finally in control. The only reason I'm here is because you wanted me to be here." It explained.

"I asked for my mom first. Why isn't she here?" Tourmaline asked.

"You don't need her anymore." The voice said.

"What!?" Tourmaline shouted.

"She could only come to you once, and she did it because you had to hear what she was saying. She had one message to give you though. It was that you already have a family and you don't have to worry about her anymore. Live your life and be happy for her." The voice said.

Tourmaline was silent. He didn't know what to say.

"If it makes you feel any better, there is someone here to see you." The voice said.

"What? Who?" Tourmaline asked.

"Someone you've been meaning to see for a long time. I'll leave you two alone. Good bye Tourmaline." The voice said as it faded away.

Tourmaline felt like he was falling slower. Suddenly, he was placed standing up in a dark and empty chamber. He took a step and felt the floor ripple. The ring traveled far until another ring intercepted it. Tourmaline looked up from the floor and saw a small pink glowing orb. He moved towards the orb slowly, unsure of what it was. Suddenly, the orb burst and the room was filled with a bright light. Tourmaline looked back to see the room filled with beautiful bright colors. The liquid turned into a wondrous pink water. Tourmaline looked to where the orb was and saw the light shape shift into a woman with long hair. The light dispersed from the shape and revealed a tall woman wearing a white dress. Her long, curly hair well past her back, and her gorgeous eyes shut.

"You've been waiting a long time for this...haven't you?" The woman said in an angelic voice.

"Are you...Rose?" Tourmaline asked.

The woman nodded. Tourmaline still couldn't believe it.

"I've come to answer your questions." Rose stated, "So what do you want to know?"

"How...how was my dad?" Tourmaline asked without hesitation.

"Ah Jade. Such a brash, lighthearted man. To answer your question, he's just like you now." Rose answered.

"Okay...why couldn't you find me? Or did you even try to find me?" Tourmaline asked.

Rose sighed, "One of my deepest regrets is that I couldn't find you. I couldn't repay your father for saving my life. Our world was in shambles, so I had to put all my energy into restoring balance. We tried to find you, but things just kept coming up. We were distracted...we had no idea where you went." Rose explained, "I am truly sorry.".

Tourmaline averted his eyes. He thought about what else he wanted to ask, but nothing else came into his head. That's all he really wanted to know.

"Now if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a question." Rose insisted.

"Okay, shoot." Tourmaline offered.

"If I could, would you let me take you away from that orphanage? Would you want to erase all those years of your life?" Rose asked.

Tourmaline didn't expect such a heavy question. He thought hard about it. All those years of torture, all those years of neglect, all gone. He could've known about the true meaning of life as a gem long before any of that. He wouldn't have needed someone like Ruby...Ruby.

"Well, do you have your answer?" Rose asked.

"...No." Tourmaline said.

"Oh, well take your time." Rose said.

"I mean no is my answer." Tourmaline said.

Rose looked down at Tourmaline, a little surprised by his answer.

"Interesting. Explain why." She insisted.

"If I were to have been taken away from that place...what chance would I have of meeting Ruby, or Sapphire, or Tanzanite, or Tanza and Taz?" Tourmaline asked, "I'd rather have suffered centuries of torment and have them now then have had a good life and never have met them.".

Rose giggled. "You think so? Well I'm glad to hear that, now go to them." She said as she pushed Tourmaline over.

The pink water slowly enveloped him and Rose looked down at him. She crouched down and touched his forehead, parting his hair away from his face.

"Treasure your family Tourmaline. And watch out for my son, okay?" Rose said as Tourmaline sunk in.

Tourmaline sunk further down, struggling to have his hand breach the surface. Struggling with all his strength, he managed to break a hand above the surface. Rose looked at his hand, and Tourmaline made an okay symbol. He let himself sink down and go back to his friends. Rose slowly began to fade away back into color.

"You're son has grown up to be a good kid Jade, Aqua. I'm really glad that he's with my son now." Rose said as she disappeared.

"Really!? He just smashed that thing's head in with it's own tail!?" Amethyst exclaimed.

"Yep, he leapt into the air and slammed it down on it's head!" Ruby said.

"That's awesome!" Amethyst beamed.

"Yeah, Tourmaline's a really cool guy." Steven said.

"He really is." Garnet said.

"Yeah, and there was this one time-" Tanzanite went on

Suddenly, Tourmaline's gems began to glow. The group turned to look at them. The gems flew high into the air and emitted a light. The light grew and formed into Tourmaline. He fell from his point and landed on a knee. He slowly got up and looked at his friends. Ruby was the first to move. She slowly walked up to Tourmaline, got as close as she could, and looked up to him.

"Hi Ruby." Tourmaline said with a smile.

Ruby said nothing. She just wrapped her arms around Tourmaline. Tourmaline did the same for her, then Tanza came and he had her move in, then Taz, then Tanzanite, and then Sapphire. He hugged all of his friends for as long as he could, and then when they loosened their grip, he moved towards the crystal gems. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven all looked at him.

"Hey guys, about those questions...I don't need them answered anymore." He said modestly.

"Really? You sure?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah...I know what I need to know now." He said.

"Okay then." Pearl said.

"Are you gonna leave now Tourmaline?" Steven asked.

"I guess I have to. There's no reason for us to stay here anymore." Tourmaline answered.

"But, you're such a cool guy! And we're all gems! We should stay together because...because we're all family in a way, right?" Steven begged.

"Hmm. I could go with adding some more people to gang, how about you guys?" Tourmaline said as he turned to the others.

"I'm alright with it." Tanzanite said.

"I'd like that a lot." Sapphire said.

"Sure, let's have some more people come along for the fun." Tanza said.

"I'd love nothing more!" Taz exclaimed.

"Of course I'm okay with it. I'm gonna all the spare hands I can get to keep you under control." Ruby said.

"My friends are okay with it. How about you guys?" Tourmaline asked as he turned towards the crystal gems.

Steven looked up to his friends with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster. The gems looked at one another for a few seconds, and then turned back to Tourmaline.

"Sure, why not?" Garnet said.

"You're a cool dude, I see no problem with it." Amethyst said.

"...Well I guess I have to say you're welcome as family now. Thank you for everything you've done for us." Pearl said.

"I intend to do a lot more." Tourmaline said.

"So where are we going to stay?" Taz asked.

"We're gonna have to do some serious renovations in the temple, but it'll be doable." Garnet said.

"We'll help." Tourmaline said.

"Alright then. Lets get started." Garnet said as she walked towards the temple door.

Tourmaline followed behind her, along with the rest of the gems. It finally happened. After all the years of loneliness, all the years of suffering, a great weight was just lifted from his shoulders. Tourmaline didn't have to be a killer anymore, he didn't have to hurt anyone. He had a family now, and now all he wants is to protect his family and live a happy life.


	11. Chapter 11: The Strongest

Chapter 11: The Strongest

It's a warm and sunny day in beach city. Tourmaline is resting in the sunshine as Taz and Steven built sandcastles together. Steven's castle was crudely made and was practically a molded pile of sand while Taz's was a bit more well constructed. Tourmaline looked over and decided to join in on their game. He got up and walked over to the two gems.

"Your castle looks good Taz, but I think mine might have a slight advantage over yours." Steven said cheerfully.

"Huh? What do ya mean? Mine towers over yours and looks better." Taz replied.

"I chose for it to look like this. It's an artistic choice." Steven snootily retorted.

"I think I can tell which one is better." Tourmaline said as he butted in on the conversation.

"Yeah! Let's let Tourmaline decide who's is the best." Taz declared.

"Okay, that sounds fair." Steven agreed.

Tourmaline crouched down and examined the two castles. After looking both of them up, he turned to Steven.

"How long did it take you to make these?" He asked.

"Uhhhh, five minutes?" Steven said whilst counting on one hand.

"Okay good." Tourmaline said.

Tourmaline then stood up and walked back a few feet. The two little gems stared at him as he turned back around and let in a deep breath. He exhaled and then leapt high into the air. Tourmaline managed to touch a cloud at the peak of his jump. He then flipped in the air and prepared to come crashing back down onto the sandy beach. His tanktop and hair fluttered violently as he plummeted downwards. Taz and Steven stared up in awe.

"Steven?" Taz asked.

"Yeah?" Steven replied.

"You think we should move?" Taz added.

"Yeah we probably shou-" Steven only managed that before Tourmaline made impact with the beach.

A large cloud of sand exploded from his landing and the two gems felt the ground shake. Taz's castle began to crack and crumble while Steven's mound remained stable. The dust settled and Tourmaline walked back to the castles. He saw Taz's castle destroyed and ruined while Steven's remained unchanged. He grabbed Steven's hand and raised it up.

"Steven wins. His castle is still standing." Tourmaline declared.

"What!? It was never standing to begin with!" Taz complained.

"It was a designer's choice." Steven gloated.

Taz pouted and stood up. Tourmaline managed to stop her before she could walk away.

"Hey now Taz no need to be huffy. Let this be a lesson, focus on functionality instead of flare." Tourmaline said.

"I don't wanna hear this coming from the biggest show off I know." Taz shot back.

"I'm not a show off! I just get really into the moment is all!" Tourmaline whined.

"Tch, if you say so." Taz replied as she walked off.

Tourmaline looked down to Steven.

"Man, she takes her five minute castles seriously." Tourmaline said.

"It's a way of life Tourmaline." Steven replied.

"Mmhmm" Tourmaline hummed as he sat down with Steven.

"I'm serious! It requires brian power for cool designs! Muscle to pack muddy sand into the right shape! A strong spirit to rebuild again as your last masterpiece gets destroyed by the sand! And last of all, it requires heart!" Steven exclaimed as he touched Tourmaline's chest.

Steven's triumphant expression changed to one of curiosity. Steven touched the same spot not to feel what would be Tourmaline's chest, but a hard and jagged lump. Steven squeezed it and Tourmaline moved his hand away from the object.

"What was that?" Steven asked.

Tourmaline reached inside his shirt and pulled out a necklace with a large gem attached.

"This is my father's gemstone. Ruby, Sapphire, Tanza, Taz and I found it in an ancient battleground by a giant skeleton of a great monster. Tanza gave me the necklace so I could keep him close at all times." Tourmaline explained.

"Wooooaaahh. Did you cry when you found it?" Steven asked.

"...No." Tourmaline muttered.

"Like a baby!" Taz shouted from the patio.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" Tourmaline shouted as he turned to her.

"It's okay Tourmaline, I would have if I found my mom's gem there." Steven said trying to comfort him.

"I guess." Tourmaline replied.

"So I take it he got...you know...while fighting that monster?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, he actually got hurt trying to save your mom." Tourmaline explained.

"Really!?" Steven shouted.

Tourmaline nodded his head.

Steven just stared in shock, and then turned his attention back to the stone. He looked to see the giant hole in it.

"So it's been damaged for a while huh?" Steven proclaimed.

"Probably a couple thousand years at least." Tourmaline said.

"Hmmm, it might not work, but I have an idea!" Steven declared.

He turned to the hole and licked the entire gem. He stared at it while Tourmaline stared at Steven, completely lost for words whilst gawking at the young gem. This moment lasted a few seconds, then Steven turned back to Tourmaline.

"You just keep getting weirder Steven." Tourmaline said.

"No! I have healing spit! I actually managed to heal a gem once so I thought I could do it for your dad." Steven explained.

"A nice thought but I think he's far beyond the point of being able to be healed." Tourmaline replied as he put the gem back into his shirt.

"Aww, I wanted to meet the guy who saved my mom." Steven grumbled.

"I do too, but I just gotta accept that he's gone...forever." Tourmaline said solemnly.

Steven moved over to Toumaline, looking at his bummed expression. But that faded away to a smile.

"But that's alright. I know what I needed to know about him. And besides, I got you guys as my family now!" Tourmaline chuckled as he ruffled Steven's hair.

Steven laughed with him and lightly pushed his hand off his head.

"And being the strongest of the group has it's perks too." Tourmaline joked.

"Second strongest...maybe third." Steven replied.

"Excuse me?" Tourmaline said.

"You're not as strong as Garnet I think." Steven explained.

Tourmaline let out a cocky chuckle.

"Sure she's super strong but I think I could take her." Tourmaline declared.

Steven stared at Tourmaline for a second and ran past him towards the house. Tourmaline laid back down in on the beach and stared up at the clouds.

"_Well I guess I know how I'm gonna spend my day now." _He thought to himself.

The gems were relaxing in the living room of the house. Ruby and Tanzanite were playing a game of checkers, Sapphire and Pearl were catching up about certain mission topics, Tanza and Amethyst were teasing Taz about her sand castle fiasco, while Garnet was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper. Suddenly, the front door swung open and Steven charged in.

"Garnet!" Steven shouted.

Garnet dropped the newspaper and looked at the young child.

"What is it Steven?" She asked.

Steven got on the couch next to her.

"You're super strong right?" Steven asked.

Garnet smirked, "The very strongest.".

"I thought so." Steven said.

"Why're you asking this? You know I'm the strongest gem around." Garnet gloated.

"Well, it's just that Tourmaline said that he could probably take you in a fight. He sounded pretty confident too." Steven explained.

Garnet's expression turned a little sterner. Ruby placed her face in her hands while Tanzanite sighed. Pearl and Amethyst turned to Garnet with raised eyebrows while Tanza and Taz looked at each other.

"Is that so?" Garnet huffed.

"Yeah." Steven answered.

"Now Garnet it's just a little comment. I mean he probably didn't really mean it." Pearl said.

"Yeah I do." Tourmaline said as he walked into the house.

All eyes turned to the confident gem as he swaggered in. Ruby and Tanzanite shot him a few annoyed glances, Amethyst gave him a small glare, Pearl had a furious expression on her face, and Sapphire &amp; Tanza gave him a small smile each. Tourmaline locked eyes with Garnet.

"If I were you I would know your place boy." Garnet threatened.

Tourmaline walked up to her, "I know my place exactly.".

"Oh shut up Tourmaline." Ruby said irritated.

He turned his attention to her.

"Excuse you?" Tourmaline said.

"Would you relax with this macho stuff? We know you're strong, so why bother pulling a stunt like this?" Ruby asked.

Tourmaline scratched the back of his head and set his attention back to Ruby.

"You want to know why? I'm bored. The last mission I went on was a week ago and I haven't been on the job since. And even if a job pops up for me, it'll be the same old thing. Just some random monster that dies in a few hits. I want to fight something that is actually worthy for a change." Tourmaline explained.

"If you want to spar then why don't you do it with me?" Ruby asked.

"You know I spar with you guys every now and then, but never with Garnet." Tourmaline replied.

"That's because she's out of your league." Pearl said.

Tourmaline turned to Pearl, "And what makes you say that?".

"Well I can tell from experience that Garnet is probably one of the strongest gems I have ever met, and considering how long I've been around, that's a lot. Besides, you're still a young buck compared to us." Pearl said confidently.

"So you admit you're a bunch of grannies?" Tourmaline joked.

"EXCUSE ME!?" Pearl shouted back.

Tourmaline laughed.

"Actually, Tourmy might have a chance." Amethyst added.

Garnet and Pearl turned to Amethyst.

"I mean I have been training-"

"Dozing." Tourmaline interrupted.

"Sparring with him every now and then, and he can beat me down fast." Amethyst explained.

"That's because you barely try anymore." Tourmaline said.

"Eh. It's cause I know it's pointless fighting you, so why prolong it?" Amethyst said as she stretched out, "Same deal with Garnet. I'm never gonna win so why bother?".

Pearl scoffed, "Okay you may have the edge over Amethyst but that doesn't really mean much.".

"Hey!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"Oh you know it's true. I am vastly superior to you when it comes to combat, so you're the weakest one here." Pearl gloated.

"You know I could whip you with one hand tied behind my back! No pun intended." Amethyst shot back.

The two divulged into bickering as Tourmaline turned back to Garnet.

"So, you wanna just skip all the speculation and just see who's the strongest?" Tourmaline offered.

Garnet stared at him with her arms crossed for a good minute before standing up.

"I'll lead you to the fighting grounds." She declared.

Tourmaline smirked.

Garnet walked to the temple door with Tourmaline following close behind. Pearl and Amethyst stopped their argument as everyone watched the two move into the temple. Tourmaline turned to the crowd as Garnet opened the door.

"You're welcome to come watch if you want! It's gonna be a blast." Tourmaline offered.

Ruby was the first to step forward.

"Sure. If it means I get to see your butt whooped then of course I'll watch." She said jokingly.

Tourmaline just let out a small chuckle as he turned back around to follow Garnet, with the others following close behind.

The gems gathered in a space filled with floating ruins. The spectators gathered on a set of stone bleachers as they looked on to see the two competitors preparing themselves for the fight. Tourmaline stretched out as he stared down Garnet, who was just staring him down as well. Tourmaline finished up and locked eyes with Garnet once more.

"So what are the rules?" Garnet asked.

"No holds barred, except for use of shape-shifting." Tourmaline explained.

"Fair enough." Garnet said as she began to walk up to him.

Tourmaline began to slowly walk towards her as well. The others stared on, Pearl with an smug grin on her face, matching Ruby's.

"This isn't going to last two minutes." Pearl said.

"Don't count him out P. I know he can do...something against Garnet." Amethyst said.

"Why are you so quick to defend him?" Pearl asked.

"Why are you so quick to doubt him? You've seen him in action. He's pretty strong, so why think he has zero chance against Garnet?" Amethyst asked back.

"Well he's young! Sure he has some energy but Garnet has millena of experience over him." Pearl explained.

"Hmm, good point. Well let's just see what happens. If anything I'm still rooting for Garnet." Amethyst said.

"As you should." Pearl added.

"You sure we should let Tourmaline do this?" Tanzanite asked Ruby.

"It's his choice. If he wants to get himself beaten up, that's his call. It's not like his life is going to be in danger." Ruby explained.

"Well, that is true but-"

"But nothing." Tanza interrupted, "Tourmaline wouldn't throw himself into a fight he doesn't think he at least has a chance at. He may be cocky but he's not stupid.".

"Yeah I guess you're right." Ruby replied.

Taz and Steven were sitting in the front row. Both knew who they wanted to win, and they were both eager to see this clash of the titans.

"This is gonna be so cool!" Steven exclaimed.

"Yeah! After all this is all in good fun right?" Taz asked.

"Uhh, yeah! It's like a game to them I guess." Steven said.

Finally, the two combatants were standing inches away from each other. Garnet towered over Tourmaline, who still had his same level of cool composure.

"Last chance to call this off." Garnet offered.

Tourmaline just shook his head.

"Hmph. Your call." Garnet said.

Garnet's hands glowed and Tourmaline's legs also glowed, forming their weapons. Garnet's massive gauntlets remained at her sides as she remained still.

"Shall we begin?" She asked.

Tourmaline nodded his head.

"Alright then. You go first." Garnet offered.

"Thank you." Tourmaline said.

Tourmaline delivered a punch as fast as lightning to Garnet's stomach. Garnet hunched over from the impact of the punch and the crowd gasped in surprise. Pearl had her hands over her mouth while Amethyst stared in surprise. Quickly, Tourmaline followed up with an uppercut to Garnet's jaw. She stumbled back a few feet but managed to ground herself. Tourmaline rushed towards her and she lunged forward to meet him. He leapt into the air to deliver a flying side kick and Garnet matched that kick with a massive punch. The two exchanged blows and a massive wind erupted from the two forces colliding. Tourmaline pressed off the giant fist to flip back and deliver a leaping knee. Garnet blocked the strike with both hands and shoved him to the ground. Tourmaline bounced off the stone floor and then landed into a crouch. Garnet was upon him, raising both hands up she smashed her two fists into the ground. Tourmaline managed to roll out of the strike's range, but was sent flying as the earth split, catapulting him into the air. He slammed into a pillar but managed to land on his feet. The others stared in amazement.

"I'm counting one minute P. You think he's gonna go down in the next one?" Amethyst joked.

"Unbelievable. To be able to match Garnet like that...incredible. But the match isn't over yet." Pearl said.

Garnet stared down the young gem. She then smirked to herself.

"Heh. Guess I underestimated you. I think this might be a bit of fun for the both of us after all." Garnet said.

"How's your gut and chin feeling?" Tourmaline asked.

"Fine. A little bruise here and there. But don't get cocky, you'll have to work for the next marks." Garnet said confidently.

"Wouldn't be a fight if I didn't work for it." Tourmaline shot back.

"Enough talk." Garnet said.

Garnet rushed towards Tourmaline and Tourmaline rushed towards Garnet. Garnet raised a fist as she came closer to Tourmaline. He was just in her range, but he suddenly jumped back, dodging her punch. As it collided with the ground, creating a great imprint of her fist, she looked up to see Tourmaline leaping back towards the pillar. As soon as he made contact, he pounced off of it towards Garnet, flipping faster and faster in the air. Garnet quickly freed her fist and raised both of her arms to the sky, bracing herself for his impact. Tourmaline extended one leg and delivered the first hit of his scissor kick. Garnet's knees buckled from the impact, but she managed to stay standing. The second hit broke her guard, causing Tourmaline's second kick to go through. Garnet managed to back up in time, with the kick only grazing her afro. Tourmaline's foot caught in the ground, he looked up to see Garnet's fist inches from his face. The first thing he felt was the giant fist hitting him hard in the face. The second thing he felt was his body hurt as he crashed through the pillar. With an entire section of the pillar missing, it came crashing down towards Garnet. She looked up and lazily stopped it with one hand, tossing it aside next to her.

"Huh, two minutes and thirty seconds. You're still wrong Pearl." Amethyst said, irritated.

"It wasn't really even fair." Pearl gloated.

The others stared intensely at the dust cloud.

"Don't be so hasty." Ruby said, "He wouldn't go down to a hit like that.".

"Yeah! He's a durable guy!" Tanzanite added.

The young ones were just staring in awe at the awesome scene that just played out before them. Both with their eyes gleaming and their jaws slack.

Garnet stared at the dust cloud, waiting for Tourmaline's next move.

"_He couldn't have gone down that easily. What is he doing over there?" _She thought to herself.

Suddenly, she saw him dash towards the pillar. Tourmaline delivered a massive kick to the opposite end of the pillar, causing it to spin around and slam Garnet. She flew back a few feet and landed on her side. She managed to get to her knees before she noticed Tourmaline lifting the pillar. He then threw the massive pillar at her. Garnet got to her feet and delivered a strong punch to the pillar, causing it to split in half. As she split the massive thing in half, Tourmaline closed in and leapt up. He grabbed Garnet's head and slammed it into his knee. Her shades were smashed and she felt something trickling from her nose. Tourmaline then spun mid air and delivered a kick to her head. Though her afro absorbed most of the blow, she still was knocked off her feet. Tourmaline stared down at her with a sanguine expression on his face.

"Is that all you've got? If so I am sorely disappointed." He mocked.

Garnet growled and rose to her feet. She touched her face and looked at her hand. She noticed purple blood on her index finger, and turned back to Tourmaline.

"You just keep on surprising me. Drawing first blood, that's quite an accomplishment." Garnet said, "But now the fun is over. No more games.".

Garnet cast her shattered shades aside and Tourmaline stared up in shock. He looked to see Garnet's eyes, all three of them, staring at him with a menacing glare. The other gems, outside of the Pearl, Amethyst and Steven, gasped in shock at the revelation. Tourmaline regained composure and assumed a defensive position.

"Cool eyes. Always wondered if you were hiding something behind those shades." Tourmaline joked.

"It's about time I got rid of that smug attitude of yours." Garnet threatened.

"Just try it triclops." Tourmaline goaded.

Garnet stood still. She felt a violent urge pulse through her entire body. Her expression remained the same, but a new anger boiled within her.

"What did you just call me?" Garnet said, seething with anger.

"Hmm, I think it was...triclo-"

Garnet delivered a massive hook to Tourmaline. He bounced off the floor but managed to stop himself by digging his hand into the ground. He slid back, creating three trails of broken stone where his hand and legs were. He seethed in pain as his head ached. He felt a trickle of blood flow from his brow to his eye. He growled to himself as he rose to his feet. His cocky smile was gone, replaced by a wrathful expression.

"Okay...just for that...I'm not holding back anymore!" Tourmaline shouted.

"Neither am I!" Garnet shouted back as she rushed forward.

The two collided together, both locking arms as they stared at each other with great hatred. Garnet managed to break their like and deliver the first punch. Tourmaline kicked it away and followed up with a second kick. Garnet grabbed his other leg and began to slam him into the ground, smashing the stone floor as if she were using Tourmaline like a sledgehammer. After a few strikes, Tourmaline managed to break free and jump back towards Garnet. He delivered another kick, this time slicing her cheek. Purple blood spilled from the fresh wound and Garnet grabbed Tourmaline's head. Gripping it tightly, she slammed Tourmaline into the ground. The earth shook as the stone floor cracked and rumble came flying from the ground. Raising a fist, she slammed it back down, hitting Tourmaline's arm, breaking it. Tourmaline's cry of pain was muffled by the giant gauntlet covering his face. She let go of him and he grabbed his now limp arm in pain. She stood up, doing her best to keep herself calm before she does more damage. Tourmaline got up to his feet, still holding his broken arm. He glared at Garnet, her face bruised and somewhat bloody.

"This fight is over. You can't beat me with your arm like that." Garnet stated, "You've lost.".

The others stared in terror. Steven and Taz were scared of what just happened while the others were only mildly shaken up.

"Dang Garnet you didn't have to cripple him!" Amethyst shouted.

"Amethyst hush! I'm sure she had a good reason to...do that to him." Pearl said concerned.

Tanza grit her teeth and tried to get up to help Tourmaline, but was stopped by Ruby. She looked down to see an equally angry Ruby.

"I know how you feel, but he did this to himself. The idiot…" Ruby said.

She shook her head with a growl and sat back down.

Tourmaline continued to wince in pain as he gripped his limp arm. Garnet heaved a sigh and loosened her expression. She poofed away her weapons and got closer to Tourmaline.

"Tourmaline, I'm sorry about your arm. I got a bit carried away, but let that be a lesson for you. Don't get yourself into fights that can get you hurt. That arm will heal in a few days, just take it easy." Garnet said.

Tourmaline's pained expression turned into his usual smug grin. Garnet's soft expression turned into a cautious glare.

"You're wrong about two things Garnet. First, this fight isn't over. Second, when a human breaks a limb, it can take weeks if not months to heal it. When a gem breaks a limb, it only takes a few days to heal. But when I break a limb…" Tourmaline explained deviously.

Tourmaline's gripping hand jerked back and tore off the broken limb. Garnet stared in shock as she witnessed the disturbing act. She followed the severed arm as Tourmaline threw it away like a used tissue. It poofed away, and Garnet turned back to Tourmaline now straining hard, as if he were pushing something out. After a second, a new arm sprouted from the stump, covered in green blood.

"...I just grow a new one." He finished.

Tourmaline moved his new arm as the others stared in shock, with the exceptions being Tanza and Taz.

"Whoa." Amethyst uttered.

"I...how?" Pearl stumbled.

"Did you know he could do that?" Sapphire asked Tanza.

"Yeah, he used it on his foot when we first encountered him. His healing factor is stronger than other gems, but by doing that he completely shuts it down." Tanza explained.

"So now he's in a lot more danger." Tanzanite said grimly.

"At least Garnet's calmed down." Ruby said.

Garnet snapped out of her daze and looked down to Tourmaline.

"Well that's a neat little trick." Garnet said.

"It is isn't it? Certainly is useful." Tourmaline said as he brushed the blood of his forehead, revealing the healed wound.

"Be that as it may, you're still clearly outmatched. You may be able to heal a few wounds but that doesn't mean anything when I can inflict more pain. All this is doing is delaying the inevitable." Garnet said sternly.

"Perhaps, but I doubt either of us truly know how this fight is going to end at this point." Tourmaline replied.

"It can only end in your loss and you know it." Garnet retorted.

"Now who's the one acting cocky?" Tourmaline teased.

"Enough of this foolishness!" Garnet shouted as she summoned her weapons.

"That's better." Tourmaline said smugly as he prepped himself.

Tourmaline was the first to draw a punch, but Garnet blocked it with one of her massive hands. Garnet tried to follow up with a counter, but Tourmaline deflected that hit. Then, the two began to deliver a flurry of attacks, Garnet punching wildly while Tourmaline used every attack he could. Every few seconds an attack got in, be it on Tourmaline or on Garnet, but the two of them each continued their assault, only barely interrupted by the stray hit. The ground shook as the two of them continued to fight, with cracks forming around their feet as the earth itself gave in to their mighty force. The crowd was struck with awe as they continued to fight.

"I can feel them all the way here!" Tanzanite exclaimed.

"They're just so strong!" Sapphire added.

Pearl and Amethyst stared intensely at the fight before them. Both focused on what was playing out before them.

"This looks bad." Amethyst said.

"Yeah, doubt he'll be able to keep this up." Pearl replied.

The young ones turned to the two crystal gems.

"What do you mean? They look pretty evenly matched to us." Taz asked.

Pearl looked down to the young ones.

"It may look like that to the untrained eye. But if you look closely, you can see that Tourmaline has received more hits that he has dealt. And considering who's delivering the blows, I doubt he'll have a chance if he keeps this up." Pearl explained.

The two looked away from Pearl and back to the fight. Taz grew a worried expression on her face. Steven saw this and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I doubt it'll get too extreme again. Garnet already had one freak out, I'm sure she's pretty calm now." Steven reassured.

"I don't know Steven. It just seems like Tourmaline is going to push himself too hard and get hurt." Taz said.

Steven tried to think of an excuse, but he couldn't find one. He just turned his attention back to the fight. The others stared from the bleachers, still fixated on Tourmaline.

"How much longer before you think he cracks?" Sapphire asked.

"Could you use a better verb than that?" Tanza replied sourly.

"You know what I mean!" Sapphire replied.

"Probably not too much longer." Ruby said.

Back at the fight, the two were still exchanging blows. Tourmaline's face was bruised and bloody, and in much worse condition that Garnet's. But still, he continued his assault, dishing out attacks as fast as he could, and taking blows to the best of his ability. As the fight when on, his father's gem began to glow. Tourmaline didn't notice this phenomenon, but he felt it. He could feel something swelling in his chest. Something burning, scratching and begging to get out. Tourmaline did his best to resist this urge as he fought Garnet, worried that it's some side effect from pushing himself after using up his healing factor. Garnet then broke away from the assault. Leaning back, she brought both of her fists back and lunged forward, thrusting them towards Tourmaline. Tourmaline put his hands up and blocked the punches. Though he was still standing, the blows sent him back a few feet. His feet cut through the stone like a hot knife through butter, creating a few new trails and a few piles of small debris. Tourmaline looked up to see Garnet staring at him. Both panted as they did their best to recover. Garnet was the first to break the silence.

"Last chance Tourmaline. Give up now or suffer the consequences." Garnet offered.

"How many times do I have to say no to you!?" Tourmaline snapped back.

"Tch, why do I even bother?" Garnet asked herself.

Suddenly, fire erupted from her gauntlet's ends. Then like rockets, they launched, taking Tourmaline with them. Tourmaline did his best to resist them, but the rocket fists still managed to send him back steadily. Tourmaline felt the feeling in his chest grow stronger, his father's gem glow overshadowed by the bright gauntlets. He grit his teeth hard as he tried to cast the rockets aside, but could only grunt and groan as he barely managed to stop them from sending him flying. The burning feeling grew stronger and stronger as he struggled. Suddenly, he felt nothing. The odd feeling had dissipated, now replaced by a new sensation. A new sense of brutality.

Garnet watched with her arms crossed, waiting for the explosion to go off. It wouldn't kill him, but he will definitely be out of commision for a while. Then she noticed a glow coming from Tourmaline. It was a dark green, an even darker shade than Tourmaline's gem. The glow dissipated and then Tourmaline tossed the two gauntlets aside. They both spiraled out of control, landing behind him and producing a massive explosion. Tourmaline stared her down, although it didn't seem like him at first. He had an incredibly wrathful look on his face, and his eyes were a deep green, with cracks forming from them. Before she could talk to Tourmaline, he rushed across the the battlefield and delivered a massive punch to her stomach. He continued to rush forward, dragging Garnet along with him towards a stone wall. Garnet grabs Tourmaline's arm and pulls herself away from the fist. She fell to the floor and Tourmaline rushed towards the wall, smashing it down with a single punch. She got back up and looked at Tourmaline, his anger still apparent on his face.

"_What is this? He's not himself at all." _Garnet thought to herself.

Tourmaline rushed back forward to her, and Garnet rushed to meet him. Garnet delivered the first punch, smacking Tourmaline dead center in the face. However the punch barely phased Tourmaline, as he grabbed her extended arm and yanked it down, bringing her forward. Tourmaline brought his knee up fast and slammed into her chin. She grit her teeth hard and reared back. Tourmaline then gripped her head and brought it in for a brutal headbutt. Tourmaline then crouched in and delivered a strong flip kick. She got launched into the air but managed to land on her feet in a crouch, her face now a bit more bloody and bruised. Her forehead now bleeding and a trickle of blood forming from the left corner of her mouth. She turned to Tourmaline, still holding the same angry expression. She got back to her feet.

"Tourmaline you're not well! You have to stop this now!" Garnet shouted at him.

"Not...over...yet!" He managed to growl back.

Garnet grit her teeth and begrudgingly rushed towards Tourmaline. Tourmaline came charging forward, but was met only with a fist. He dodged the first attack and leapt in to deliver a knee to her chin. Garnet stepped back to avoid the kick and retaliated with another punch. It hit him smack in the stomach and sent knocked him back far. He landed on his feet, but took a knee. He coughed up a bit of green blood, but he didn't let it deter him. He came back swinging and Garnet only prepared herself for his assault. He came in delivering a rush of punches and kicks, but Garnet managed to block each and every attack.

"Snap out of it Tourmaline! I don't want to hurt you!" Garnet yelled at him.

Tourmaline ignored her warning and delivered a couple scissor kicks. The first one broke her guard and the second one sliced through her suit, cutting her chest. He then quickly followed up with a tackle, taking her with him. He leapt up into the air, taking Garnet with him. He pulled Garnet under him and delivered another knee to her face. Then he delivered a kick to her face. The two fell to the battlefield like a meteor and then hitting the stone floor like a nuclear bomb. A giant dust cloud formed from the impact as the others watched in shock. The dust settles, revealing Tourmaline's foot pressed firmly on Garnet's face. Her head was imprinted in the ground, with her afro partially popping out. Tourmaline removed his foot from her face, revealing it to be bloody and bruised. He stared down at her lifeless body for a few seconds, but then her eyes shot open. She pulled herself out of the hole and got back to her feet. She shook out her afro, with debris falling out of it. She stared him down, opening only two eyes. Her left eye was blackened.

"Enough of this Tourmaline." Garnet said calmly, "This has gone on long enough.".

Tourmaline growled and lunged forward again. She slapped down his kick and grabbed his arm. She lifted him up and stared him down.

"This ends now." Garnet said menacingly.

Garnet punched him in the stomach again and tossed him aside. As Tourmaline flew through the air, Garnet rushed to his side and slammed him down with another fist. He bounced off the ground a bit and then Garnet grabbed his face. Rushing towards a stone wall, he slammed him into the wall and held him in place. She punched him in the stomach repeatedly over and over, causing the wall to crack and break as she continued the assault. When the wall was at the point of crumbling, Garnet released Tourmaline's face, his eyes now shut with a pained expression on his face. Then she punched him in the face, smashing him through the wall, causing it to break and crumble. Tourmaline remained lifeless as he laid among the rubble. She walked over to him, the cracks on his face still there. Suddenly, the cracks receded into his eyes and he opened them again, now back to normal. Tourmaline painfully got back to his feet and looked back to Garnet. The two looked at each other and then Tourmaline heaved a sigh.

"That's it I give up." Tourmaline said.

Garnet looked at him with a surprised expression. Then Tourmaline, ignoring his pain, managed to crack a smile.

"I tried my best but I can't beat you. I'm simply outmatched and I'll only end up in my gem if we keep this up." Tourmaline admitted.

Garnet eased up and returned the smile.

"Even with the glowing eyes and power up?" Garnet said jokingly.

"What power up?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet raised an eyebrow to this statement, but dismissed it.

"Nevermind. Lets go back." Garnet offered.

"Sure."

Tourmaline attempted to walk with Garnet, but keeled over in pain, gripping his stomach. Garnet turned back to Tourmaline.

"Geez Garnet, how many times did you punch me in the gut?" Tourmaline asked.

"Enough times." Garnet replied as she picked up Tourmaline.

The two walked together as the others met up with them. The other gems looked over the two fighters, looking over their wounds.

"You guys really did a number on each other huh?" Tanza said.

"Yeah." Tourmaline said.

"So I guess you aren't the strongest after all Tourmy." Ruby said playfully.

"Eh, I can live with being second best." Tourmaline replied.

"But what was with you during that last part of the fight. You were being way too violent!" Pearl nagged.

"What are you talking about?" Tourmaline asked.

The others stared, a little unsettled.

"The last part of the fight! You were going nuts! You stomped on Garnet's face!" Amethyst scolded.

"I did? I remember fighting but that part I don't remember." Tourmaline admitted.

"That's...weird." Taz commented.

"You have an explanation Pearl?" Sapphire asked.

"I...would elaborate if I completely understood the nature of this phenomenon, but I have to say I'm at a complete loss." Pearl admitted, "I'll look into it later. For now, we should treat those wounds.".

"I got it!" Steven exclaimed.

Pearl picked up Steven and he licked his hand. He wiped his hand over Garnet's face, then brushing her blood on his shirt. Pearl yanked Steven back.

"Steven don't do that! You'll stain your shirt." Pearl demanded.

"Sorry Pearl." Steven apologized.

With a small glow, Garnet's black eye was healed and any and all cuts and bruises left as well. Steven turned to Tourmaline but he raised a hand in protest.

"No need Steven. These little cuts will heal on their own in a few. Besides I'm just really really sore right now." Tourmaline explained.

"Suit yourself." Steven replied.

"Alright, the game's over. Let's go back and relax." Garnet declared, "Garnet wins.".

She swiped her hand in front of her face and formed a new pair of shades. The group began to walk back out of the temple. Tourmaline looked up to Garnet.

"Say Garnet." Tourmaline said.

"Yes?" Garnet replied.

"You mind if I train with you more often now? I'm gonna need to if I want to get an edge over ya." Tourmaline requested.

Garnet smirked.

"I doubt you'll be able to catch up even if you train with me. You have a few thousand years of catching up to do." Garnet said.

"Yeah, you have a point." Tourmaline replied.

"But I'll say this much, you're very strong for your age. Probably as strong as me when I was your age." Garnet admitted.

"Really?"

"Really."

Tourmaline smiled to himself.

"Hey Garnet?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes?" Garnet asked.

"You can put me down now. I think I can walk." Tourmaline said.

"If you think so." Garnet said as she put him back on his feet.

Tourmaline gripped his stomach but managed to walk into the house. Tourmaline plopped onto the couch while the other gems met him with teasing and praising. Pearl and Amethyst were still with Garnet.

"We need to talk about that thing with Tourmaline." Pearl suggested.

"Later. For now, I need to rest." Garnet declared.

She moved into the house and sat next to Tourmaline. Steven hopped onto her lap and she looked down to the boy with a smile. Amethyst walked in and sat next to her leader, followed by Pearl. The others relax on the couch, letting their friends rest.

Tourmaline rested in the temple, laying down in his room, surrounded by bright luminescent crystals. He rolled on the floor, gripping his stomach. It still hurt from his match with Garnet, though his cuts have healed. Unable to rest, he stood up and decided to take a walk through the temple.

"_Just gotta walk it off, and then it'll go away." _He thought to himself.

He left his room and traveled the tunnels of the temple. He walked past all the crystals and twisting paths, going deeper and deeper into the temple. Soon he was at the bottom of the temple. The gems told him that's where they keep all the bubbled gems, so he decided it would be best to stay out of the area. He turned around to go back to his room, but he heard a voice. It was Pearl's.

"Well what else could it be?" Pearl asked.

Tourmaline turned back around, his interest peaked by the conversation. He walked slowly towards the doorway, getting as close as possible to hear as the conversation played out.

"I don't know but that just sounds dumb Pearl. Tourmaline can't be getting corrupted." Amethyst said.

"_Corrupted?" _He thought to himself.

"I looked over some texts describing the process of corruption and he fit the signs! You saw how violent he became, how monstrous he was acting!" Pearl argued.

Tourmaline looked forward, a sense of dread overcoming him.

"_Monstrous?" _He thought to himself morbidly.

"But he didn't change! Once you have the signs, you're done. You know that." Amethyst rebutted.

"That...may be but I don't know what other way to explain it!" Pearl exclaimed.

"It's simple. He lost his temper and he let something out." Garnet said.

The other two looked back to Garnet.

"He got mad, he thought his life was threatened, and he lost it. This is my fault anyway, I should have left it at hand to hand instead of doing that attack." Garnet explained.

"Garnet don't blame yourself. This was just a crazy thing." Amethyst said.

"Be that as it may we should keep an eye on Tourmaline. No more missions, no more fighting. Just let him relax until we realize what happened today." Pearl suggested.

"Agreed." Garnet said.

"Can we go back now? I wanna catch some Zs." Amethyst complained.

"Fine. Let's go." Pearl finished.

The gems moved quickly to the doorway and Tourmaline fumbled to run away. Garnet was the first to leave. Instinctively she turned her head to the hallway where Tourmaline came from, catching a glimpse of his outline. The others stopped moving to look at their leader.

"Something up Garnet?" Amethyst asked.

"He knows." Garnet said.

"Wait what? Who...oh no." Pearl said, "What was he doing up!? Why was he eavesdropping?!".

"I don't know. But now he knows we're suspicious of him." Garnet said grimly.

Amethyst turned to Pearl and shoved her to the ground. Pearl leaned back up and scowled at Amethyst.

"What was that for!?" She snapped.

"You had to call him monstrous, didn't you?" Amethyst said.

Pearl eased up and got back up.

"I didn't know how else to describe him. If I knew he was there I wouldn't have said that." Pearl explained, "Poor kid.".

"Should we talk to him?" Amethyst asked.

"I'll go talk to him." Garnet said.

"Please tell him I'm sorry for that monstrous comment." Pearl said.

Garnet rushed to follow Tourmaline. Amethyst walked off to her room while Pearl moved gracefully to her own room.

Tourmaline was sitting in his room, thinking about the conversation the crystal gems had. His thoughts were a mix of thousands of emotions. Was he a monster? What did he do? Why are the gems being so secretive about this. He clutched his head in frustration.

"_What is wrong with me!?_" Tourmaline thought to himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on the stone wall. He turned around to see Garnet standing in the doorway, one hand knocking against the stone. His surprised expression faded into a somber expression.

"Can I come in?" Garnet asked.

"...Fine." Tourmaline said reluctantly.

Garnet walked in and sat next to Tourmaline. He did his best to avoid eye contact as she looked over to him.

"I heard what you said about me." Tourmaline said, "You think I'm a monster, don't you?".

Garnet said nothing and just put her hand on his shoulder. Tourmaline placed his hand on hers.

"We don't think you're a monster. Not at all. It's just that...we're worried about you." Garnet explained.

"But why are you worried? What's wrong with me?" Tourmaline asked.

"Nothing...to our knowledge anyway." Garnet said.

Tourmaline looked down to the floor. Garnet looked at the sad young gem.

"Listen Tourmaline. You'll be fine. We're just worried about you. We've seen so many people...so many friends, get corrupted and turned into monsters. We just want to make sure that doesn't happen to you." Garnet explained.

Tourmaline was silent.

"Just take it easy. We'll figure this out." Garnet reassured.

Garnet got up and walked to the doorway.

"Were you scared when I...changed?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet stopped at the doorway and turned back to Tourmaline. He was looking at her with a concerned expression.

"Only because I thought I was going to lose you." Garnet said.

Tourmaline lowered his gaze.

"Okay." Tourmaline said.

"Yes. Also Pearl apologizes for the comments." Garnet added.

"Okay." Tourmaline repeated.

"Just get some rest Tourmaline." Garnet requested.

"Okay." Tourmaline repeated once more.

Garnet exited and Tourmaline plopped back to the floor. He rolled over on his back and stared up at the ceiling for a good minute. Then he drifted into a slumber, hoping things would get better in the morning. As he slept, his father's gem began to glow faintly. And the hole in the gem began to grow smaller as it slowly regenerated.


	12. Chapter 12: Rage

Chapter 12: Rage

The gems were exploring a bleak crag. Steven and Taz looked at the different rocks as Tanza, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby and Sapphire walked forward, scanning over the landscape for any particular oddities. Amethyst heaved a yawn while Taz and Steven rushed over to them to catch up. She eased back to let the two young ones squeeze in front of her. Steven moved towards Garnet and Pearl while Taz went for Tanza and Ruby.

"So tell me again why we're out here?" Taz asked Tanza.

"We're searching for an item called the atlas band. It's a garment that can increase one's strength to immeasurable levels! A human can have the same strength of a gem wielding it, so just imagine how strong a gem would be with it." Pearl interjected.

"What she said." Tanza replied.

"Good. Then this shouldn't take too long. I don't like that we had to leave Tourmaline behind." Ruby said.

"Hey, he's got Tanzanite looking after him." Sapphire suggested.

"That's not the point. He needs his friends. I don't know what's going on in his head since that fight with Garnet, but something is obviously bothering him." Ruby replied.

The crystal gems did their best to appear non suspicious. Garnet kept staring ahead while Pearl and Amethyst averted their eyes.

"I agree! I mean he hasn't left his room for days. He hasn't even gone out to grab a snack!" Steven exclaimed.

"He never ate to begin with." Sapphire commented.

"...Well he still hasn't left!" Steven argued.

"He'll come out when he feels ready to. We shouldn't push him too hard." Garnet suggested.

"Maybe you're right." Ruby admitted.

"Yeah, and we'll be back to see him in a flash!" Steven beamed.

The group stopped as they came to a massive hole in the ground. It was massive and the outline of it was a jagged circle. The tunnel traveled down to what appeared to be a pool of magma, with a few barren islands stranded in the flowing liquid rock. Garnet scanned the bottom of the hole while Pearl turned to Steven.

"Alright Steven, you stay here and we'll be right back with the band, okay?" Pearl requested.

"Huh? I don't get to come too?" Steven asked puzzled.

"I'm not letting you run around a lava land." Pearl said sternly.

"Same for you Taz." Tanza demanded.

"Awwww." Taz whined.

The two kids went to the back of the crowd and assumed their waiting positions. Steven sat on a rock and Taz leaned against larger boulder next to him. Amethyst turned around and flashed them a smile.

"Don't worry! This'll only be a second!" She said.

"Hopefully if this hole wasn't made by something." Pearl whispered to Garnet.

Garnet just nodded to Pearl and turned her attention back to the hole. With a small leap, they all hopped down the giant chasm, leaving the kids behind. As they fell, Pearl looked back up with a worried expression on her face.

"Oooooh, do you think I should go back up there? I mean to leave them unattended like that." Pearl asked.

"It'll be fine. We scanned the landscape and it was completely lifeless." Garnet reassured.

"Yeah, and our dangerous monster is probably down here anyway." Ruby joked.

Pearl cracked a smile and looked back down to the island of black rock.

"You're right. They'll be fine." She said.

Meanwhile back at the surface, Taz and Steven stared at the ground, bored out of their minds.

"Wish I brought my ukulele." Steven said.

"Wish I brought my guitar." Taz added.

Steven heaved a sigh and hopped off the rock.

"What do ya say we go exploring?" Steven suggested.

"Explore what? There's nothing but rocks here." Taz complained.

"But what if there isn't?" Steven suggested.

Taz stared at Steven for a second and a stern expression formed on her face.

"We can't afford to take that risk." She said.

"Then let's go!" Steven said as he ran off, Taz following close behind him.

Back in the temple, Tanzanite watched over Tourmaline. He laid on the couch, looking up at the ceiling, lost in deep thought. Tanzanite sat near his feet with a book in her hands. He hasn't been taking the house arrest well, but he does his best to behave himself. Tourmaline growled to himself and Tanzanite closed her book, turning to Tourmaline. He placed a hand on his forehead, an irritated expression spread on his face as he did it.

"Something wrong Tourmaline?" Tanzanite asked.

"Nothing...it's nothing." He mumbled.

"It doesn't seem like nothing." She stated.

"Well it is. Just go back to your book." He replied as he rolled to his side.

Tanzanite heaved a sigh and placed her book on the table. She turned to face Tourmaline, placing her legs on the couch, sitting criss-cross.

"Tourmaline you haven't talked to any of us ever since that fight." Tanzanite said concerned.

"I said a word here or there." He replied.

"I meant really talk to us. Discuss what's going on in your head, personal talk, stuff like that. You're usually so open, so why are you acting different?" Tanzanite asked.

"I don't need a reason." Tourmaline said.

"Why are you keeping secrets? I know something is up so just admit it! This isn't like you." Tanzanite demanded.

"How many times are you going to say that!? Nothing is wrong so get off my back!" Tourmaline shouted as he sat up.

Tanzanite stared at him timidly. Tourmaline let in a deep breath to calm himself down.

"I'm sorry...it's nothing you need to concern yourself with. It's my problem and I'll find a way to solve it." Tourmaline stated calmly.

"Your problems are our problems, you know that." Tanzanite reminded.

Tourmaline averted his gaze.

"Not this one…" Tourmaline said somberly.

Tourmaline got up to his feet and walked to the front door.

"I'm heading out." He stated.

"Then I'm coming with." Tanzanite added.

"I want to be alone." He requested.

"I'll lag behind." Tanzanite added.

Deep in the magma caverns, the gems searched for the mystical band. Ruby, Sapphire and Tanza searched the ground floor, Pearl and Amethyst searched the stalactites, and Garnet searched the lava pools. Pearl leapt from stalactite to stalactite, hanging on with her spear while Amethyst was a bird, checking every blind spot Pearl can't get to. Garnet emerged from the lava, stepping onto the black rock and brushing off any spare liquid rock on her body.

"Nothing in the lava. Any luck everywhere else?" Garnet asked the others.

Pearl gracefully flipped down from the ceiling to her leader. Amethyst following and changing back to her usual form.

"I haven't seen anything on the ceiling." Pearl said.

"Same here." Amethyst added.

The remaining gems grouped up with the crystal trio.

"Nothing on the rocks." Ruby relayed.

"That's odd. You'd think it would be here, or at least something to be here." Pearl pondered.

"Maybe there are other holes." Sapphire suggested.

"If something went to the trouble of carving this place out, why bother making another home?" Amethyst asked, "Seems a little pointless.".

"Amethyst it's not pointless for a creature to spread out in order to mark it's territory. Considering that this cave was carved out, and has no signs of being connected via a tunnel system, the creature may have carved out others for some safe havens when it has to hide away or as a way to mark it's territory. For all we know there are holes like these for miles!" Pearl explained.

"Huh, cool. So that means the creature would spend most of it's time on the surface then, right?" Amethyst asked.

"Yes it would….yes it would." Pearl said as she came to the horrifying realization.

Immediately Pearl turned and ran towards the exit. She leapt up into the air and clung to the cave wall, sprinting up as fast as she could.

"STEVEN!" She shouted.

The other gems followed behind her, moving quickly to find the kids before whatever made the hole found them first.

Taz and Steven walked around the different rock formations in search of something. They didn't know what that thing was, but something should be around. They felt it.

"By the way Tanza, I've been meaning to ask. How did you meet up with Tanza?" Steven asked.

"Oh. I got attacked by a monster a long time ago. It hurt me bad, even sent me into my gem. When I regenerated, I found myself with her. She obviously saved my life, so I felt grateful and I've followed her ever since." Taz explained.

"That's cool." Steven said.

"Yeah. And how did you meet the crystal gems?" Taz asked.

"Uhhh, I've always known them." Steven said.

"That makes sense." Taz replied.

Steven hopped over a rock and Taz followed close behind. They both scanned the barren landscape, looking for anything that stood out from the dark grays. Taz turned back to Steven.

"You sure we should be going this far away? I mean what do you think will happen if the others come back and they don't see us?" Taz asked.

"Oh don't worry, there's nothing out here! They said so themselves. Besides we have gone in a straight line since we left our post, so it's not like we're lost." Steven reassured.

"If you say so." Taz replied.

"Yeah and...wait what is that?" Steven said curiously.

The young boy rushed over to a slight glow emitting from some rocks. Taz followed close behind, leaping up onto the rock Steven was climbing over. Steven hoisted himself up and stared at the mystery site with Taz. It was another hole in the ground, but this time the lava was raised much higher, nearly spilling onto the land itself. In the middle of the lava lake, was a large stalagmite, the size of a man, in the middle of the lake. It was a pristine grey and completely smooth and curved. But what really peaked the gems' interest was what was on the stalagmite. Wrapped around near the top, a brown and dark red band was bound to the piece of rock.

"You think it's the atlas band?" Taz asked.

"It's gotta be! I mean why else would someone go to the trouble of putting a random fashion accessory on a rock." Steven suggested.

"Once again, good point." Taz replied, "Alright, lets get it.".

Taz was about to leap for the band, but Steven grabbed her hand to stop her. Her body jerked as Steven hindered her movement, causing some small rubble to fall into the hole and be swallowed by the lava. Taz turned back to Steven with an annoyed expression.

"What the heck Steven?! Why'd you do that?" She asked.

"You can't just jump to there!" Steven scolded, "What if you fall in?".

"I won't." Taz reassured.

"But you can." Steven said sternly, "I'm not running any risks when we have a strong person who can literally swim in lava.".

Taz twiddled her fingers, looking back at the band and back to Steven, "You're right.".

"Lets go back and tell the gems." Steven declared.

"Okay." Taz agreed.

Steven turned and hopped off the rock with Taz following behind. In the lake of lava, the stalagmite began to move towards the young gems, parting the red goop as it came closer. Steven walked in a straight line for a bit and then stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to his right in his usual silly fashion and walked again.

"So why did you want to jump for the band?" Steven asked.

"Sooo I could get the band?" Taz answered, confused.

"Yeah but why did you reaally jump for it?" Steven repeated.

"...I wanted to surprise Tanza." Taz admitted as she blushed.

Steven giggled and playfully shoved her hip.

"Aw don't be like that! I would've done the same thing for the gems if I knew Pearl wouldn't flip over the fact that I went over a pool of lava to get it." Steven admitted.

Hearing that, Taz dropped her embarrassed expression and gained a new smile as she laughed along Steven. Suddenly, they felt a giant tremor. The ground shook and the two looked behind to see the source of the mini-earthquake. Coming out of the pool, lava still slipping off of it, a giant beast emerged from the hole. As it hoisted itself up, it showed it's whole body. It walked on all fours like a komodo dragon, with a long tail that was lined with jagged spikes. The body was the same color as the stalagmite, now revealed to be it's single horn, a light grey. It's back was covered by what appeared to be hardened lava, leaving it completely black. It's eyes were a snow white shade, deeply ingrained into it's bony head. Many bumps and spikes formed from it's jaw line and head, all surrounding the main horn. It hung it's mouth open, revealing flat teeth, made for crushing, and the color of it's mouth, a deep fleshy red.

Taz and Steven backed away slowly as the creature approached, letting out a guttural growl as it moved. The lava slid off it's body, revealing cracks in it's skin, bursting with light.

"You think that weird light stuff is because of the band?" Taz asked.

"I don't know. It looks pretty beat up, especially around the face area, so maybe they're just battle scars?" Steven suggested.

"Maybe." Taz said.

Steven slipped on a rock and fell on his back. Taz turned to pick up her friend, and the creature started to inhale. As Steven got back to his feet, the creature let out it's deafening roar. The harsh, low tone shook the two gems to the core, and they turned to run. The beast lumbered after them, smashing rock as it charged forward with it's horn lowered. Slowly it began to catch up. Steven noticed this, and turned to leap onto Taz. Tripping her over, he formed a bubble of energy around the two of them. The creature touched the bubble with it's horn and threw it's head back, high into the air. The two yelled as they hurtled through the air.

"STEVEN! YOU THINK THIS BUBBLE IS GONNA BREAK OUR FALL!?" Taz screamed.

"SURE! IT'S THE BOUNCE AFTERWARDS THAT'S GONNA HURT!" Steven shouted back.

The gems looked all around the area outside of the hole. Pearl was panicking as she looked everywhere for Steven. Tanza was looking for Taz, a worried expression on her face.

"Oh nonononono, how could this happen!? How could I be so careless!? I could have taken them down there with us, oh but then they might have gotten hurt down there, why did we bring them! WHY DIDN'T WE LEAVE THEM WITH TOURMALINE!?" Pearl screamed as she clung to Garnet, "They could be hurt, they could be lost, they could be…!".

"Hurtling towards us." Amethyst said as she looked up to the sky.

Everyone looked up to see the giant pink bubble come falling to them. Garnet pushed Pearl off of her and jumped up to catch the bubble. It smacked her to the ground, but she landed on her feet. She placed the bubble down and it popped, the two gems falling to the ground. Pearl immediately rushed to pick up Steven, with Tanza coming for Taz.

"Steven! What happened? Why were you in your bubble?" Pearl asked.

"We found the atlas band!" Steven declared.

"What? Where is it?" Pearl asked.

The gems heard the roar of the goliath beast. They all turned to see the giant beast walk over to them, crushing stones underfoot. The gems summoned their weapons.

"It's got the band on it's horn!" Taz said.

"So it's powered up. Everyone be careful." Garnet said.

"Steven. Stay back." Pearl ordered.

"You too Taz." Tanza demanded.

The two young ones nodded and ran to hide behind some rocks. The creature stomped one foot down and bellowed loudly, preparing itself for a fight.

Back at the house, Tourmaline returned from his walk with Tanzanite close behind. It's been a few hours since he left. They saw that the others haven't returned. Tourmaline scanned the house and frowned. Tanzanite walked up to his side and looked up to him.

"They should be back." Tourmaline said.

"Well they just have a delay is all." Tanzanite said reassuringly.

Tourmaline walked inside towards the warp pad.

"It's just a recovery mission. These take an hour, two tops. It's been a lot longer than that." Tourmaline stated.

"Tourmaline, don't worry about it." Tanzanite said.

Tourmaline looked down at the warp pad. He felt a pained feeling in his stomach. Something felt off, and he knew it.

"Something's wrong. I know it." Tourmaline said, "I'm going.".

"What!? Tourmaline no, you're not allowed to leave!" Tanzanite shouted.

"Our friends could be in danger and you just want to sit here?" Tourmaline replied.

"They're fine! You're acting paranoid. Just stay here and relax." Tanzanite ordered.

"No they aren't!" Tourmaline shouted back as he stepped onto the warp pad.

Tanzanite ran up and grabbed his arm and tried to pull him off of the pad.

"Tourmaline stop this foolishness! You're gonna get in trouble with Garnet!" Tanzanite said.

As he struggled to get her to let go, his chest began to glow again.

"I...said...I'm...going!" Tourmaline shouted.

With that, Tourmaline used his free arm to shove Tanzanite away from him. She let go of his arm and was sent flying backwards. She slammed into the breakfast bar and fell to the floor. Tourmaline recoiled when he realized what he did, his angry expression turning to one of regret. Tanzanite just sat and stared at him, shocked by his behavior and the strange glow in his chest.

"That was an accident." He said grimly, "I'm just...I mean...I need to find them!".

A light enveloped him and he disappeared. Tanzanite stood up and rushed to the warp pad to chase him down. Another beam of light enveloped her and the house was completely empty.

A familiar light illuminated the crag, bringing the young gem to the battlefield. Tourmaline came running out of the light, desperate to find his friends, hoping his bad feeling was only his imagination. As he ran, the sounds of shattering earth and primal screams became more apparent. He felt his chest burn worse than it had before, but he didn't care. He had to find his friends and fast. Close behind, Tanzanite was chasing him down.

"Tourmaline come back!" She shouted.

He ignored her, running closer to the violent struggle. Tanzanite's expression grew more worried as the danger became more and more clear to her.

The monster was scarred as the gems fought it. Pearl wounded it's back leg, leaving it limp. She was still stabbing the other leg because her spear was stuck in it, while Sapphire and Ruby slashed at the creature's ribs while Garnet was punching it's face. Tanza was gearing up for another fast kick, spinning faster and faster around it, as each one of her hits have done significant damage. Amethyst was holding the creature's tail still with her whip and Taz and Steven watched from behind the rock, slightly happy that the gems were winning, but still worried. Garnet punched it hard in the eye, causing the monster to reel back in pain. As it stepped back, Pearl was shaken off of the creature's leg, leaving her spear behind. Garnet charged forward to continue her attack, but the beast lunged forward with a massive roar. Garnet stopped and covered her ears, gritting in pain as the roar nearly destroyed her hearing. The beast stopped and lowered it's horn to impale Garnet. Garnet opened her eyes and looked forward to see the horn only a yard away from her. Suddenly, the creature's head swung the other way as Tanza delivered a massive kick to it, cracking it's bony face. Tanza sped forward to build up more momentum while the monster shook off the massive hit. Garnet rushed forward again and attacked the monster's face, making an impression with each punch she delivered.

"They got it!" Steven exclaimed.

Taz could only nod. Tanza came speeding back again, aiming for the finishing blow. The creature was back on the offense, trying it's best to impale Garnet. Garnet dodged every blow as she waited for Tanza to hit it again. But as Tanza grew closer, the creature noticed her coming by again, and turned towards her. Tanza's eyes shot wide open in terror. She tried to turn at the last second but it was too late. The sound of flesh being torn apart erupted from the battlefield. Tanza was still, only twitching her arm. She slammed right into the beast's horn, which was now impaling her through her chest. The others stared in horror as they saw their comrade get skewered. Taz's jaw dropped and her body trembled.

"Ta...Tanzanite?" Taz uttered.

The creature's mouth opened and with it's tongue, it crunched down on Tanza's knee, crushing her knee and femur. She screamed in pain as purple blood dripped from her mouth and spray from her back and chest as the creature began to jerk her downwards. Garnet rushed towards the monster again, completely enraged.

"Let her go!" She screamed at it.

Garnet shoved her hands into the creature's mouth and did her best to open the clamped jaws. She could only open it a foot, but it was enough for Tanza's mangled leg to fall out. Sapphire jumped behind Tanza and pulled her off the monster's horn. A shower of purple blood erupted from her chest as she was pulled off. Sapphire ran to the kids to keep her safe. With lifeless eyes, she looked up to Sapphire and uttered only a few words, "Keep...Topaz...safe.".

With that she poofed away into her two small gems. Taz ran straight to the gems and picked them up, choking back tears as she ran back to the rock. Sapphire escorted her there and brought her to Steven, who was also upset.

"It's my fault! I shouldn't have left! I shouldn't have tried to jump to it! I should've just stayed put!" She yelled to herself.

"No Taz don't blame yourself! We were going to find this thing eventually, we weren't prepared for it is all." Sapphire consoled.

"The gems will stop it, just hold tight to Tanza and...and…" Steven said.

The others turned to Steven, who was staring up at something. The others looked up to see a green glow. The green glow rushed down the large rock towards them. The light surrounding the thing dissipated to reveal Tourmaline, only now he was different. His face was formed entirely of cracks, mostly stemming from his eyes, which were now a complete shade of emerald, no pupils or irises. The cracks seemed to be spreading throughout his entire body as there were also cracks on his neck and even spreading to his arms. Before the others could speak, he quickly lunged forward to see what Taz was holding. He examined Tanza's gems and slowly stood back up. He turned his attention to the monster and began to slowly walk forward.

"Tourmaline…?" Sapphire timidly said.

"I saw what happened." Tourmaline said in a distorted voice.

Tanzanite slid down the mountain and joined the others as they watched Tourmaline walk towards the beast. The other gems continued to fight, but the beast stopped and stared past Garnet. Garnet turned around to see what the beast was staring at, and her eyes went wide with sheer terror. It was Tourmaline in that form again, only this time it was worse that before. His body was covered in green cracks, like he was about to explode like a nuclear bomb. He stopped in his tracks and stared the monster down, then suddenly, he screamed. It was a loud, horrible, beast like scream. The earth trembled and his green body began to glow even brighter. Then, he stopped and immediately rushed the beast. Speeding past Garnet, he kicked it in the face, causing it to be flipped over on it's side. Amethyst was pulled by the creature's tail and sent into the air while Pearl dodged the falling behemoth. Tourmaline launched into the air and landed on Amethyst.

"Ah! Hey what the-" Amethyst yelled.

Tourmaline looked her square in the face with his soulless green eyes and she immediately shut up.

"Is that...you Tourmaline?" She asked.

Ignoring her question, he leapt off of her, causing her to fall to the ground fast. He turned his sights back onto the beast, now struggling to get up. He fell like a meteor and landed inside the creature's stomach. He penetrated the hard skin and went right into it's gut. He slashed away some rotten debris and looked around. He saw nothing but soft flesh. He fell to his knees on what the creature's spinal column, and then his arms began to glow.

On the outside, the gems stared at the fallen beast, still trying to get up. They were perplexed by this mysterious assailant. Garnet bit her lip and hoped for the best. Suddenly, the creature began to scream in pain. It flailed it's legs as it tried desperately to get up. The small pool of blood from it's stomach began to erupt with the black liquid, carrying chunks of viscera with it. Bulges began to come and go throughout the creature's body, as everyone else stared in horror. Then one of the bulges bursted, and out came a large, hooked green tentacle. On it's sides ran a row of green, bladelike spikes. Then another popped out of the monster's chest, then one outside of it's left rib-cage, then two out the other. Soon there were ten tentacles, flaying the outside of the now gurgling creature alive. Taz and Steven looked away from the terrifying scene as Tanzanite consoled them. Everyone else could only state in terror. After a few seconds, the creature poofed away, leaving behind a giant cloud of dust. The tentacles receded into the cloud and a small glow of green formed.

"Tourmaline?!" Ruby yelled.

Garnet stepped forward, along with the rest of the gems as they slowly circled around the green glow. The dust completely settled and it revealed a now completely green Tourmaline, standing and staring down at the atlas band and a grey gemstone. He crouched down and picked up the atlas band, looking at it carefully. Then he grabbed it with both hands and tore it in half. The others gasped as he did this horrible action. Then he focused on the creature's gem. He picked up the small gemstone and looked at it, examining it far more carefully than the others. Ruby was the first to approach Tourmaline. As she made that first step, Tourmaline quickly turned his head to her. The others readied their weapons, but Ruby remained still. She sent her swords away and walked up to Tourmaline as slowly as she could.

"Easy Tourmaline...it's me, Ruby. You're friend. We don't want to hurt you. You helped us, you did what you thought was right. Tanza got hurt and you got mad, we understand that. Just calm down, give me the gem, and we all can go home together." Ruby said calmly.

Tourmaline tilted his head at the proposition and held out the gem.

"That's it Tourmaline...just give it here and-"

Tourmaline's hand closed into a fist, crushing the gemstone into dust. He opened it and a slew of grey dust flew away with the wind. The other's gasped in terror.

"How could you do something like that!? We could have saved it some day, we could have-" Pearl shouted.

Tourmaline rushed in front of Pearl, getting as close to her as he could. His deep green eyes stared deep into Pearl's.

"It didn't deserve to live. It nearly killed my friend. It deserved to be erased." He said in a cold, demonic tone.

Pearl only stood there, silent as she helplessly only stared back. A few seconds passed and Tourmaline walked past her to go back to the warp pad. The gems noticed his arms. There were four long slits where his fingers connected. A light green energy formed and sealed away the slits in his skin. The cracks in his body slowly began to recede as well as he walked away. The others watched him go, now turning their attention to Taz. The other's circled around the scared gem, tears flowing from her face. Ruby crouched down and placed a hand on her shoulder while the others looked at her.

"What was that...why did it look like Tourmaline...why did it act so violent?" Taz asked the others.

They were only silent.

"Taz..that was-" Garnet said gently.

"Don't say it was him!" Taz screamed, "Tourmaline would never act like that! He would never be so cruel! You all know that!".

Ruby did her best to hold back her tears.

"Taz...you need to know that something is wrong with Tourmaline. We don't know what, but something is happening to him." Ruby explained.

"No...you're lying." Taz said.

"I wish I was, but we need to be there for him. All of us." Ruby said again.

"Yeah...I should've stopped him when I had the chance." Tanzanite said solemnly.

"Don't beat yourself up. I can't imagine what he would have done to you if you posed a threat." Sapphire said.

"Uh guys? Shouldn't we be going back now? I mean he left on his own." Steven said.

The others stared at each other for a second and immediately got up. Garnet picked up Steven and Taz and they ran to the warp panel. As they got closer, they noticed a pillar of light coming out.

"He's already made it!" Pearl shouted.

"Come on speedup!" Amethyst shouted back.

They all made it to the warp panel in about a minute, and quickly beamed back to the temple. A light formed in the empty room and all the gems looked around to see if Tourmaline was in the house. Amethyst turned around and saw something unsettling.

"Uhh, guys?" She said.

The others turned around to see the door to the temple completely smashed in. The gems ran in as fast as they could. Garnet discarded the two young ones and turned back to them.

"Stay here!" She ordered.

The two kids stared at her as she ran back into the temple. They sat exactly where they were, and Taz looked down at Tanza's gems, still in her hands. As the others rushed into the temple, they saw the walls slashed to pieces, marks were everywhere on them, and debris littered the floor.

"Follow the scratches, they'll lead us to him!" Pearl said.

"Uh, no duh." Amethyst commented.

As they ran down the twists and turns, they came closer and closer to where he was. The scratches began to appear less and less and eventually the gems made it to a doorway. It was Tourmaline's room. The gems summoned their weapons and prepared to go in. But Ruby, Sapphire and Tanza got in their way.

"Wait!" Ruby shouted.

The crystal gems stopped, their steadfast expressions now turning to anger.

"Why are you stopping us now!?" Garnet shouted.

"We need to contain him!" Pearl added.

"All we're going to do is make him feel like he's a threat and retaliate!" Sapphire explained.

"We need to approach him like he's our friend. Like he's the person we know, otherwise he WILL lash out to defend himself." Tanzanite added.

"Please...I talked him out of something like this once before, let me do it again!" Ruby shouted.

The crystal gems stared at them for a second, but before they could answer back, they heard Tourmaline.

"So you're already afraid of me?" Tourmaline said.

The others turned to the doorway. The crystal gems poofed away their weapons and walked slowly behind the others. Carefully they entered the room, only to discover it was covered in slash marks. Everywhere, be it on the ceiling, wall or floor, there was a large gash in the stone room. Whatever possessions he had were now only a pile of shredded waste. And on the opposite wall of the room, sat Tourmaline in a fetal position, his face buried in his knees. A small green glow came from him.

"Tourmaline." Ruby said calmly, "What's happening to you?".

"I don't know. I don't know why this is happening. I'm scared." He admitted.

"We are too. But we can help, just let us come closer and-" Sapphire said.

"NO! GO AWAY!" He screamed.

The others recoiled in shock while the crystal gems got ready for a fight. Tourmaline just sat motionless for a good twenty seconds, and then he spoke again.

"Can't control it. This violent urge. Don't want to hurt any of you." Tourmaline said solemnly.

Ruby slowly walked forward.

"Easy Ruby." Garnet whispered.

Ruby slowly walked up to Tourmaline, much to his displeasure.

"What are you doing?" Tourmaline asked.

Ruby kept walking forward.

"Get away from me!" Tourmaline demanded.

Ruby kept getting closer.

"GET AWAY!" He screamed.

Ruby kept coming closer. His arms began to crack again and the crystal gems summoned their weapons. Ruby turned to them with an angry expression.

"Stop treating him like a beast! He's only going to lash out if you keep those weapons out!" She yelled.

The crystal gems stared at her, but Garnet gave a nod to the two of them to signal it was okay. They all put their weapons away and Ruby turned back to Tourmaline. His arms stopped cracking, and he was silent again. Ruby walked slowly to him, and then sat down in front of him. Tourmaline remained as still as a statue.

"Why won't you look at us?" Ruby asked.

"Can't see. Only green." Tourmaline said.

"Only green?" Ruby repeated.

"Only green. Everything, this deep ugly green. I can only see outlines, can't tell what is what." Tourmaline explained.

"Well you can tell it's us." Ruby stated.

"Your voices." He said.

The others began to walk towards him slowly. He began to shiver and groan. Ruby turned back to the others.

"Just let me handle this! Don't crowd him, you're making him nervous." Ruby said.

"We're his friends too." Sapphire stated.

"She's right." Steven said.

The gems turned around to see Steven and Taz in the doorway.

"Steven! I thought I told you two to stay in the house!" Garnet yelled.

"We can't just sit back while our friend is hurting!" Steven yelled back.

"He...needs us." Taz said.

Garnet's angry expression softened up as the young ones walked in. Steven pressed past the others to get to Tourmaline.

"Steven wait! He needs space." Ruby stated.

"Let them come." Tourmaline said softly.

Ruby turned back to Tourmaline, still in the same position. Slowly the others came closer. Taz and Steven joined Ruby's side while the others stared over them.

"Tourmaline...why did you act the way you did back there." Ruby asked.

"I heard fighting...I felt my chest burning and I knew you were in trouble. I ran towards you and I saw Tanza get impaled. Suddenly everything went green and I lost it." Tourmaline said.

"Your chest burned?" Ruby asked.

Tourmaline nodded, still covering his face.

"Maybe something's in there, let us see." Ruby said as she slowly extended her hand.

A spike shot out of Tourmaline's leg and Ruby pulled her hand back.

"Stay away from me. I have to stay here. I can't go out anymore. I'm dangerous." Tourmaline admitted.

"Don't talk like that. You're not dangerous you're our friend." Ruby said.

"No. I'm not a gem anymore. I'm not some corrupted monster either. I don't know what I am…" Tourmaline said as he slowly lifted up his face.

The others gasped as they saw his new face. Ruby placed a hand over her mouth while Amethyst, Sapphire and Pearl and mortified expressions on their faces. Tanzanite had to look away because she couldn't bare to see her friend like this. Taz cried a single tear as she looked at Tourmaline. Steven stepped back, a little scared and Garnet grit her teeth. Tourmaline had two large cracks going through his face. One starting from his forehead as it crossed through his eye, while the other started from his left cheek, going around his other eye up his forehead. Both of his eyes were a deep green, only barely showing the outline of his irises, and a white forming where the crack was. His face was a whitish green instead of his usual color.

"Oh my god…" Ruby uttered.

"I'm nothing but a monster…" Tourmaline said.

To be continued….


	13. Chapter 13: Awakening

Chapter 13: Awakening

The temple was dull and lifeless. It was a cloudy day, with the sun being completely blocked out, only revealing patches of light grey in between the clouds. Taz and Steven sat together with Amethyst as they ate lunch. Steven and Taz begrudgingly chewed their sandwiches while Amethyst just stared at her half eaten food with her chin on the table. Steven looked over to his friend with concern.

"What's the matter Amethyst? You never skip out on food." Steven asked.

"You know what's up." Amethyst replied.

"I figured." Steven said.

"Have you...ever seen this happen before Amethyst?" Taz asked meekly.

Amethyst heaved a sigh and slouched back in her chair.

"Too many times. But this is different. It's a lot harder to bear through." Amethyst said.

"Why? Is it because it's our friend?" Steven asked.

"No. Well yes, but that's not entirely it. I've seen my old friends change before my eyes a few times. But whenever it happened, it was fast. A growl here, some sign of resistance, and then they changed. But with Tourmaline...it's like he's stuck. He's caught in the middle and it's tearing him apart." Amethyst explained.

"He must be suffering so much." Taz said somberly.

Amethyst frowned and picked up her plate and walked towards the trash. She opened the can and threw out her sandwich. She then turned to the sink and tossed her plate into it. Amethyst just stood in front of the sink and then lightly placed her head on the counter. Steven slightly frowned and got up from the bar. He walked up to Amethyst and gave her a hug from the side. Amethyst turned over to the young gem, who was staring her in the face.

"We'll figure something out. We always do." Steven reassured.

Amethyst stared at Steven for a small second, and her solemn expression faded into a light smile. She put her free hand on Steven's head and gently ruffled his hair.

"Yeah...we do." She said.

Taz got up and walked up to Steven's room. She looked at the windowsill at Tanza's gems. She still hasn't come back. Heaving a sigh, she sat down and stared at the two blue stones. She scratched her head and then felt her gems.

"If only you were here right now...you might have an idea to fix this." She said to the gems.

Suddenly, Tanza's gems began to float into the air. A bright blue light was released from them and slowly they began to take the form of a woman. Steven and Amethyst rushed up the stairs to see the source of the blue light, but stopped as soon as they saw what was happening. The light dissipated and revealed Tanza, only this time her regeneration had a few side effects. Her hair was much shorter, now only to her shoulders, and her skin was now a shade of purple. Tanza looked over her body to see the changes to herself. She felt the back of her neck to feel how short her hair has gotten.

"Well this is certainly unexpected, but I can get used to this." Tanza said to herself.

Taz got up immediately and clung to Tanza's waist, hugging her tightly. Tanza looked down at Taz and smiled, placing a hand on top of her head.

"Good to see that you missed me." Tanza said.

"Oh Tanza...it's awful." Taz said, choking up.

Tanza gently pushed the small gem away and knelled down in front of her.

"What is? And how long have I been out of commission?" Tanza asked.

"Three days. And it's Tourmaline…" Taz continued.

"What? What happened to him? Is he hurt?" Tanza asked.

Amethyst and Steven walked up to her.

"It's probably best if you just see him yourself." Amethyst said.

"See him? Topaz what is going on?" Tanza repeated.

Taz was silent, she started to shiver and Steven grabbed her hand. Tanza stood up and looked to Amethyst.

"Take me to him." Tanza demanded.

As the four gems walked through the temple, Tanza couldn't help but notice all the violent slash marks covering the walls and ceiling. She asked a few times what made them, but Amethyst only replied with "You'll see.". Tanza grew more and more worried as she was led deeper and deeper into the temple. Soon enough, they made it to a small cave. The gems stopped in front of the doorway and Amethyst turned to Steven and Taz.

"Guys...I want you to go back to the house. You shouldn't have to see him like this." Amethyst said.

Taz nodded and began to walk back up. Steven turned to Amethyst with another concerned expression, but turned back around to go follow Taz. Tanza glared at Amethyst with an annoyed expression.

"Alright I have had it with this ambiguity. You shouldn't have to see him like this, what the hell happened to him!?" Tanza shouted.

Amethyst did her best to shush her.

"You'll get your answer in a second. Just do your best to stay quiet and calm. You don't want to stir him up." Amethyst explained.

Tanza shut up and gave Amethyst a nod. Amethyst turned around and walked into the cave, with Tanza following close behind. In the cave were crystals of all colors embedded in the walls and ceiling. Tanza saw the rest of the gems huddled around something, Pearl averted her gaze from something for a slight second and then looked straight at the two.

"Tanza, you're back!" Pearl whispered.

"Skip the greetings Pearl, show me Tourmaline." Tanza whispered back.

Pearl's look turned back into one of dread. She stepped aside from the group to let Tanza in. Tanza shoved Amethyst aside and walked quickly to fill in Pearl's space. What she saw made her heart break. In a large bubble, Tourmaline knelt with a tired frown. His eyes were closed and his face was covered in green cracks. His arms were gone, replaced with five tentacles expanding from each shoulder, with a jagged claw on each end. The tentacles moved on their own, lightly grazing the bubble as they searched for a way out. Each one had the type of cracks on it as the ones on his face. Tanza stared at him for ten seconds, and immediately turned away, cover her mouth.

"Oh god." Tanza said to herself.

Pearl walked over to comfort her. Tanza looked down to her.

"What happened to him? Why is he like this?" Tanza asked.

"We don't know and we don't know. All that we do know is that when he saw you get hurt, he lost it and changed into that...thing you see over there." Pearl explained.

"Why is he in a bubble? Why are you treating him like a threat?" Tanza continued.

"The bubble was his idea. He said he didn't trust himself to maintain control, so Garnet, Amethyst and I formed a bubble around him to keep him in." Pearl answered, "Ruby has been staying with him ever since we imprisoned him. She helps keep him calm.".

"This is madness. So you're just going to leave him here like one of those monsters?!" Tanza said as she raised her voice.

Garnet quickly turned around to shush her but it was too late. The tentacles began to stir, scratching at the bubble at a faster rate. Tourmaline began to growl and his eyes began to glow.

"Tourmaline easy! It's nothing Tourmaline please relax!" Ruby said.

"No..t...mo...n...ster!" Tourmaline shouted as his voice began to change.

"No one's calling you that! You're still our friend, always." Ruby reassured.

The tentacles started to slow down, and the glow from his eyes died away.

"There you go Tourmaline, nice and calm. Tanza's back." Ruby said.

"Is...she…" Tourmaline started.

"She's fine Tourmaline. She looks a bit different, but that's it." Ruby answered.

"Goo...d." Tourmaline said.

Pearl turned back to Tanza.

"We're not going to keep him in there, we just need to figure out what is happening to him." Pearl said.

Garnet, Amethyst, Tanzanite, and Sapphire turned and walked away from Tourmaline.

"That's enough for now. Lets go back and discuss what we've analyzed." Garnet suggested.

Pearl nodded and the others left. Tanza looked back at Tourmaline and Ruby. Ruby sat in front of Tourmaline, staring at him intensely. Tanza frowned and turned back to follow the others.

Back at the house, all the gems gathered around the breakfast island. Steven and Taz were sitting on the couch and playing checkers while the others talked.

"So how is he looking now?" Tanza asked.

"No real changes in his body, but he's been talking less and less. Something tells me that he's...slipping." Pearl stated.

Garnet tightly gripped her arm.

"We need to work faster." Garnet demanded.

"How can we work faster when we don't know how to even start working on him?" Sapphire said.

"I don't know! We just...we need to figure something out now." Garnet said.

"Let's go over this again. It started when Garnet fought Tourmaline, he got mad and then slightly changed. Then a few days later, he saw Tanza get hurt and completely broke." Tanzanite recapped, "So what was the thing that made him do that? I mean we've seen him mad before, and he didn't do that.".

"Maybe something on a mission?" Amethyst questioned.

"We would've noticed that sooner." Pearl said.

"Something that happened on the day he fought Garnet?" Tanza asked.

"Hmmm. It is a possibility." Sapphire said.

Garnet walked over to the young gems and sat in front of them. The two kids looked over to her.

"Steven, Taz, I want you to tell me everything you remember from the day I fought with Tourmaline." Garnet requested.

The two looked at each other and then back to Garnet.

"We were building sandcastles while Tourmaline napped on the beach. We got into a debate about who's was better, then Tourmaline came to be the judge. He said Steven's was better after an unorthodox test and I kind of stormed off after that. You know the rest." Taz said.

Garnet nodded and turned to Steven.

"Well we talked about how his dad saved my mom a long time ago, and he showed me his dad's gem. He said it hasn't been alive for a couple thousand years, and then I tried to heal it-".

Garnet grabbed Steven.

"Wait what!? Steven why didn't you tell us!?" Garnet shouted.

"I-I-I didn't think it did anything! I mean whenever I healed someone, it was as soon as my spit touched them! It didn't happen here!" Steven explained.

Pearl gasped in astonishment. She had come to a realization.

"I think I know what's wrong with Tourmaline!" Pearl exclaimed.

All eyes shifted to Pearl and she began to project a hologram of a broken gemstone from her gem in her forehead.

"Jade's gemstone was destroyed SIX centuries ago, not thousands of years ago. Rose didn't try to heal him because...we thought it was pointless. I mean it was pretty much crumbled. But when Steven used his power on it, it must have had some sort of effect! Now Jade probably hasn't healed instantly because of the amount of damage he's sustained and the fact that he was...well, dead for centuries." Pearl explained.

"Well that's interesting but what does this tell us about Tourmaline changing?" Amethyst asked.

"Umm. That he... has his dad's gem." Pearl said as she blushed.

"Well that's one half of the what." Sapphire stated.

"Maybe he wants to be a part of Tourmaline?" Steven suggested.

The gems stared at Steven in shock.

"What did you say?" Garnet asked.

"I...well my mom had to become a part of me, so maybe Jade thinks he has to be a part of Tourmaline." Steven elaborated.

Pearl slowly looked away, coming to another realization.

"That...makes sense." Pearl said.

The gems turned back to Pearl and she produced another hologram, now a moving picture illustrating her theory.

"There is a special connection between a gem and her kin. Rose gave her life to Steven when she gave birth, the same way Aquamarine gave her life to Tourmaline. Considering that Jade is also a parent, he might have the same type of connection to Tourmaline. But considering that Tourmaline is a gem in his own right and not like Steven, he is having a negative effect on him. Since Jade is still damaged, fusing with Tourmaline is probably creating a negative effect on him, corrupting him!" Pearl declared.

"Pearl that's genius! Also really horrible for Tourmaline." Sapphire exclaimed.

Garnet sighed and got up.

"Then I guess I have no choice." Garnet said dutifully.

"What was that Garnet?" Pearl asked.

"I'm going to go down there and tear Jade's gem from Tourmaline." Garnet said.

"Woah Garnet. Don't you think that's a little extreme?" Amethyst said.

"Yeah you could kill him! And what if the damage is permanent?" Tanza asked.

"I'm bringing Steven with me. Once I remove the gem, he will heal the wound. After that Tourmaline should be fine, hopefully." Garnet said.

Steven got off the couch and walked over to Garnet.

"Alright, we'll come too." Tanzanite said.

"Fine but stay out of the cave. I'm not sure how he would react if we all crowded around him." Garnet said.

The others nodded and followed Garnet. Tanza walked up to Taz and placed her hand on her head and gave her a smile.

"He's going to be okay Taz." Tanza said with a warm smile.

Taz grabbed Tanza's hand and the two walked down to Tourmaline.

In the cave, Ruby still talked to Tourmaline. He was looking down at the floor while kneeling over. His tentacles still moving around but he didn't care. Ruby stared at him, still concerned about her friend. He hasn't said a word since the others left. If anything he would acknowledge her, but now it's like he's gone deaf.

"Tourmaline come on. Say something. Let me know you're still in there." Ruby pleaded.

Tourmaline was silent.

Ruby heaved a sigh and placed a hand on the bubble.

"You remember when we first met Tourmaline? You were such a jerk. So heartless, so violent...I'm surprised you didn't just kill me back in my own temple. But you didn't, you showed mercy and you became someone new. You've repented for yourself and became something new. You're not a monster and you never will be. So please stay with us." Ruby said.

Tourmaline was silent.

Ruby averted her eyes and then suddenly, Garnet came walking into the room with Steven. The other gems were inside of the hallway outside of the cave. Garnet and Steven walked up to the bubble next to Ruby.

"Tourmaline, I know how we can fix you." Garnet stated.

Ruby looked up at Garnet.

"What? Really?!" She said.

Garnet looked down to Ruby and nodded. She raised her hands up and touched the bubble. Her gems glowed and then the bubble around Tourmaline disappeared. Tourmaline's tentacles immediately receded into his normal arms. They sagged to the ground and he was still once more. Garnet crouched in front of Tourmaline and grabbed his shirt. With one movement, she tore his shirt off. Steven and Ruby shuddered when they saw what was underneath his shirt. Jade's gem was embedded in his chest, creating a large amount of veins and cracks to form where it was resting in his chest. Garnet placed a hand on his shoulder and slowly moved her hand towards Tourmaline's chest.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked.

"This gem wants to be a part of Tourmaline, but it's unstable and causing Tourmaline to be...this. It has to come out." Garnet said.

Ruby lightly gasped and then turned to Tourmaline.

"Garnet knows what she's doing. Just relax and let her do her thing Tourmaline." Ruby said.

Garnet slowly moved her hand towards the gem, but suddenly, Tourmaline grabbed a hold of Garnet's wrist. The three looked at Tourmaline, surprised by his sudden action. He raised his head so he could look Garnet in the face. His expression was wrathful and his eyes were a blank, dark green void. His growl erupted into a primal roar as the entire cave shook. Electricity began to flow out of his body, jumping to each of the crystals on the walls and ceiling, causing them all to burst. The others rushed into see what was happening.

"What? Tourmaline what are you doing!?" Garnet shouted.

Tourmaline grunted and thrusted his arm forward, breaking Garnet's arm. Garnet yelled in pain as she stepped back and gripped her arm in pain.

"Garnet!" Pearl and Amethyst exclaimed.

Tourmaline jumped forward towards Garnet. Before she could react, Tourmaline kicked her square in the stomach, causing her to be sent flying back. She hit the cave floor and it cracked and crumbled beneath her. She painful got up and looked at the gem. His cracks grew more intense and a mysterious green glow came from his body. He immediately rushed towards Pearl and punched her into a wall. A large explosion of dust and debris came from the impact and rushed out of the cave. He jumped onto Garnet's chest, pushing her back down into the ground and ran off. Tanza, and the others chased after him while Steven and Taz rushed to Garnet. Steven licked his hand and touched her broken arm. Immediately it healed back and Garnet got back up to her feet.

"I...we were too late." She said.

"No! He's still not changed all the way right? We can still fix him!" Steven shouted.

"I hope you're right." Garnet said.

The trio rushed to follow the other gems and Tourmaline, hoping that they can still bring him back to normal.

Garnet and the kids rushed out of the temple and to the house. The front door was completely destroyed, and the sounds of clashing weapons and primal screams came from outside. The others rushed outside to see the gems fighting Tourmaline. His tentacles came back and he was using them in full force. Pearl was fighting off two of them with twin spears, while Amethyst did the same with twin whips. Ruby slashed at the two tentacles attacking her, while Tanzanite and Tanza battled two each. Tourmaline just stood stationary, looking at each of the gems as they fought. Garnet watched from the balcony and then turned to the kids.

"Alright I want you to listen to me. I want you to stay, here." Garnet ordered, "No more running into battle or anything like that, you hear me?".

"But-" Steven uttered.

"No buts!" Garnet shouted as she leapt towards Tourmaline. Tourmaline turned to see the determined gem hurtling towards him. He leapt out of the way and towards the sea. Garnet slammed into the sand, causing a massive explosion of dust. Tourmaline stood on the water as energy pulsed from his body.

"Tourmaline snap out of it! We're your friends we know you don't want to do this!" Ruby shouted.

Tourmaline only roared and sent the tentacles out at the gems. Garnet grabbed one of them while the others continued their battle, only this time Amethyst had one tentacle to deal with. Ruby continued to hack and slash at the tentacles, parrying one and managing to sever the other. Tourmaline roared in pain as the others slowly began to wear him down. His severed tentacles writhed in pain, spraying green blood over the beach. Eventually, Garnet tore the last tentacle off of his body, leaving him completely defenseless. Garnet came rushing towards Tourmaline, intent on ripping out the defective gem from his body. But before she could make it to him, Tourmaline regrew his arms and kicked her away. Tourmaline frowned at the others and made another growl.

"Tourmaline please. Let us help you." Ruby pleaded.

"Listen to us!" Tanza yelled.

"We don't want to hurt you." Tanzanite said.

"Please Tourmaline, we can fix this." Pearl said.

Tourmaline only growled and gave an even more wrathful expression.

Tourmaline crossed his arms and began to growl to himself. His gems began to glow and the same light green. Then gradually, the glow turned to a darker shade. His eyes grew even darker as he stared at the gems. Garnet was the first to rush towards him. But suddenly, a large ball of energy formed around Tourmaline, causing her to stop in her tracks and get blown back a bit. She staggered back as she stared at the giant ball of light.

Garnet turned back to the others and saw Pearl use one of her spears to fire a bolt of energy. The beam went past Garnet and collided with the ball, resulting in a small explosion, but it did nothing to deter him. Garnet ran towards the others.

"Get down now!" She ordered.

The gems all jumped back and then Tourmaline screamed out as loud as he could. He spread his arms apart and the energy surrounding him expanded into a giant ball, almost as big as the statue holding the house, and nearly reaching it as well. The others stared in amazement as the ball came forward. The massive attack created a giant force of wind, causing all the gems hair to be sent fluttering backwards. Eventually the blast faded out and Tourmaline was standing in a crater. Sea water flooded into it, rushing past his ankles. Tourmaline looked up and saw the gems staring down at him, terrified.

"What...what power." Pearl said.

"That's insane." Amethyst said.

Garnet stood back up and looked down to Tourmaline.

"Everyone rush him now, we have to take him down." Garnet said.

Tourmaline just stared up at the gems. Multiple ripples began to form on his back and slide down his body and into the sand. He remained stationary as the gems readied to rush him. The gems readied their weapons and got ready to attack him. They rushed towards him as a group and were ready to attack. But before the could make it him, from the ground beneath them, Tourmaline's tentacles came bursting out and grabbed each and everyone of them. Tourmaline let out a satisfied roar and dragged each of them under the ground. He moved the ripples from his legs back to his arms, whipping them all up into the air as he tightened his grip around them.

Steven and Taz stared helplessly as their friends were being slowly crushed. The others did their best to escape but could barely manage to move. Garnet managed to slip a hand out, but Tourmaline quickly saw this and summoned another tentacle. He sent into lashing towards Garnet but she managed to stop it's piercing claw. She struggled to keep it from piercing her head, but her body was still being crushed. Not able to take it anymore, Steven rushed down the stairs to confront Tourmaline, with Taz following close behind. Pearl managed to open her eyes slightly, seeing the kids rushing towards Tourmaline.

"Steven! Gah! Run...away!" Pearl shouted.

"Go away, grah, Taz!" Tanza ordered.

The kids ignored their guardians orders and ran up to Tourmaline. Tourmaline's attention turned to the kids, staring down at them.

"Tourmaline stop this now! You said you stopped doing bad things a long time ago! You know this isn't you!" Steven shouted.

Tourmaline only managed to flash a sanguine smile and look back at the suffering gems above.

"You're a good guy! You know this isn't right!" Taz screamed.

Tourmaline ignored her and continued to crush them. Steven grit his teeth and ran towards Tourmaline. His belly glowed pink and a strange light began to grow from his arm. The gems stared down in astonishment.

"I..said...stop it!" Steven shouted.

Tourmaline looked down back at Steven and saw a pink shield. His sanguine expression turned to one of fearful surprise. Steven leapt up and slammed into Tourmaline. Tourmaline let out a pained expression as the shield collided with him. He let go of all the other gems and they all came crashing to the ground. Tourmaline collapsed with Steven right on top of him. Quickly, Steven moved his shield to grab Jade's gemstone and tear it from Tourmaline. He gripped the stone tightly and tugged as hard as he could, but he couldn't make it budge. As he tugged and pulled, Jade's gemstone glowed a new green. A much lighter green than the previous shades. Tourmaline looked up to Steven and morphed one of his tentacles back into a normal arm. Steven looked up to see a green fist inches from his face. But before it could collide, Steven was jerked away from Tourmaline. Tourmaline stared at the open air in front of him, perplexed by Steven's vanishing act. He then looked over to see Steven floating, and Taz's head glowing. Steven looked over to Taz with the same level of surprise.

"Taz, is this your power?" Steven asked.

"I guess?! I didn't even know I could do something like this!" She shouted.

The other gems got back up and walked over to the kids. Pearl and Tanza walked up to the kids with smiles.

"Thank you Steven, you saved us back there." Pearl said.

"It's good to see you harness your power Topaz. I'm...proud to see this." Tanza said.

The two kids smiled but then their smiles faded into fear.

"BUT DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" The two shouted at the kids.

"Yeah it was good, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't get the gem out of Tourmaline." Steven said.

Garnet walked past him, along with Sapphire.

"We can take care of that." Garnet said.

Tourmaline got up, his chest still glowing. He breathed heavily as he stared down the group. He stood up straight and clutched his chest, a pained expression coming across it. Then the glow grew brighter than ever, even more brighter than the ball of energy he made. The glow dissipated, and Tourmaline let go of his chest. He looked down and saw something amazing. Jade's gem was completely healed, no cracks, not even a small scratch. The others stared in astonishment.

"Steven, why'd you heal him?" Amethyst asked.

"I didn't! I just gripped his gem with my…" Steven said.

But Steven touched his hand with the other and felt something wet. He knew what had happened.

"I didn't wipe off my spit…" He said in horror.

The others looked at him and gasped.

"Steven...how could you?" Sapphire said.

"I don't know! I just licked my hand to heal Garnet's arm and then we ran off to find Tourmaline! I didn't even think about any remaining spit on my hand!" Steven explained.

"Oh nonono! This is can't be good!" Pearl exclaimed.

Garnet and Sapphire stood stationary as Tourmaline stood like a lifeless statue. His eyes stayed open as he had a dumbfounded expression. He felt some new energy flow through him. Then, the it bursted out of his body! He fell to his hands and knees and screamed in delight. Green energy overtook him as his scream turned into maniacal laughter. The energy expanded larger and larger, to the point where the top of his back was at the same level of his house. The gems braced themselves for a true monster. Tourmaline's voice then began to change, it became much deeper, a bit more sinister. He moved one of his legs up, bringing him to a knee. He then brought the other leg up, standing tall above the others like a colossus. His giant arms spread apart, and slowly a new pair sprouted from his armpits. The legs were the first to lose their energy coating, revealing large, thick legs as big as oak trees. On his shins were the same gems Tourmaline has, but now super sized. His feet now gained a new pair of black boots, coming up to the base of his gem. A black cloth like substance covered the rest of his legs. His arms were the next to lose their energy, revealing the muscular things. A large black ink like marking wrapped itself around the top pair of arms, and blue bands surrounded the bottom pair. Then his torso lost it's energy, revealing his massive frame. The black substance his leggings were connected to was revealed to be a black pair of pants. His chest was covered by a dark green tank top that was slashed to hell. Each cut piece of the cloth revealed his muscular form and his jade gemstone, firmly placed in his chest. Finally, his head was freed from the green energy. Staring forward was a stern, mad expression. He looked like Tourmaline, if he were much older, and his hair was a bit shorter, now only reaching the back of his neck as opposed to reaching his shoulders, though now it was black with faint green in it. His eyes were a dazzling light green. The gems could only stare in amazement at the colossal gem.

"W-w-w-woah!" Taz stuttered, "Is that...Tourmaline?".

"No way. This is something new entirely." Tanza answered.

"Geez he's big. Probably as big as Sugilite." Amethyst admitted.

"Who?" Taz said.

"I'll tell you later." Amethyst said.

" This is incredible. Steven, you didn't speed up the corruption, you changed it! This is the form that Jade and Tourmaline were meant to make instead of that monster. If we ripped it out of him, who knows what would happen. But thanks to you, you've helped create a new gem!" Pearl exclaimed.

"I...I did?" Steven said meekly.

Pearl smiled and nodded.

"Stop acting like that." Sapphire barked.

Pearl's smile faded and she turned to Sapphire and Garnet.

"We still don't know if he can be trusted or not." She explained.

"Be prepared for anything." Garnet ordered.

The giant fusion looked down at the others for a few seconds, and then up to the sky. He stretched his arms upwards as he made a small straining noise. He then moved his head side to side to crack his neck. The fusion then turned around and walked to the ocean, with the other gems following close behind him. He stomped into the shallow end of the water and then crouched down, looking at his reflection. He then stood up and stared ahead at the sparkling sea. He then made a fist with one hand and reeled it back. As fast as lightning, he punched the ocean water, causing a massive wave to go hurtling towards the sea. He heaved a satisfied sigh and turned back to the others. He stared down and crouched once again.

"Steven." He said in a cold, menacing tone.

Steven walked up to the giant gem, with the others following close behind. Steven was only a few yards away from the massive man, but stood his ground and did his best to show that he wasn't intimidated. The two stared at each other intensely and then the fusion cracked a smile.

"Steven...I'd like to thank you. Because of you I am no longer that twisted monster that you once called Tourmaline. Poor Jade, he wanted to desperately become a part of his son, so much so that he even ended up putting his life in danger. But now thanks to you, I am at last whole. I am a new being, formed from three gems." The fusion said.

"Three? But...there was only you and Jade." Pearl said meekly.

"Silence!" He said in a booming voice, "I am talking to Steven, no one else!".

Pearl shut up and turned back to Steven.

"Yes it's true that I have Tourmaline and Jade in me, but Aquamarine is also a part of me. Her power slumbered inside of Tourmaline for centuries, and now it's mine." He explained.

"Who...who are you?" Steven asked.

The fusion's smile widened.

"Emerald will do." Emerald said.

The gems were taken aback by this, but then Sapphire smiled.

"This...this is amazing! Not only do we have Tourmaline back, but now we have this awesome beast on our side! Nothing will ever be a threat again!" Sapphire exclaimed.

"Yeah I gotta admit, this is pretty awesome." Amethyst said.

"And we can see Jade again when they unfuse!" Pearl exclaimed.

The thought of that made Garnet smile.

"It'll be good to see him again. To tell him what he's missed." Garnet said.

"I honestly don't care about any of that. As long as Tourmaline isn't suffering anymore and he's back with us, I'm happy." Ruby said.

Emerald began to chuckle to himself. The chuckle grew louder and louder as the others turned back to gaze up at him. He stood up and his chuckle grew into a guffaw. He held his stomach with one pair of arms while he crossed his other pair of arms. The gems smiles turned into expressions of deep concern.

"Why is that funny?" Steven asked.

"You think that I'm going to give them both up just like that?" Emerald asked.

That sentence shook the gems to their core. A deep look of shock took over all of them. Steven was the first to snap out of it.

"But...you're a fusion. You have to go away eventually right?" Steven asked.

Emerald tossed his head back and laughed once more.

"I don't have to do anything, especially when it's natural that I come into existence! Tourmaline was nothing but a missing piece of the puzzle, something made only to achieve my creation. I've yearned for this moment for centuries, the birth of the mightiest gem, a force that all will fear and respect. Tourmaline and Jade may have died today, but their sacrifice will not be forgotten. Now that I am complete, I will never be split up again! **EMERALD IS BORN, AND HE SHALL ALWAYS BE UNTIL THE END OF TIME!**" Emerald screamed.

With his final words, a dark green energy bursted from him, creating a massive amount of wind and turbulence. The gems could only stare up in sheer terror as the colossal fusion laughed like a maniac. Steven fell to his knees with his mouth gaping open.

"_This is my fault…"_ He thought to himself.

To be continued...


	14. Chapter 14:Emerald

Chapter 14: Emerald

Emerald towered over the other gems, still cackling as the energy surrounding his glowed. Garnet and Sapphire grit their teeth and leapt at the giant fusion. Garnet jumped off one of his legs to get to his face while Sapphire went straight for his stomach. Before either of them could land their attacks, Emerald vanished. The Garnet landed on the beach and Sapphire kept going towards the sea, landing in the water. Garnet and Sapphire looked back to where the giant was. He was still standing in the same position...only smaller. He turned towards Garnet with a wicked grin.

"Why are you smaller? Are you taunting us!?" Pearl shouted.

"Since you're so keen on fighting me, I thought I might as well make it fair. I could crush you all like grapes if I so well pleased, but since we're all gems, I think it would be in bad taste to have your blood on my hands. And yes, I am taunting you." Emerald gloated.

"You're going to regret that decision!" Sapphire shouted as she came rushing towards him from the ocean.

Emerald turned around and rushed up to her at blinding speed. Before she could even blink, Sapphire got a knee to the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending an unbearable amount of pain throughout her body. As she fell down, Emerald uppercut her jaw with one of his lower pairs of arms, lifting her up only to be grabbed by the throat by one of his upper hands. He punched her in the stomach again, nearly punching a hole through her, and then threw her to the house. Sapphire flew through the air, eventually crashing into the house's roof. The others stared at the house and then back to Emerald, laughing as he walked on the water. Garnet rushed over to him next, readying a punch. She came closer and closer to Emerald, but he still walked calmly towards her. With a loud grunt, she threw a punch to his chest gem, but he merely grabbed the punch with one hand. She tried to hit him with her other hand, but he grabbed the other hand as well. Garnet struggled to move away from him, but she was kept still, locked in place by him.

"Is that all you got?" Emerald taunted.

Garnet looked up to his face with great anger, scowling at him while he simply smiled and laughed. He pulled her arms apart and lifted her up. Using his lower pair of arms, he began to punch Garnet in the stomach over and over again. Eventually Garnet managed to lift her legs up and use her feet to press against his punches. However Emerald grabbed her legs, rendering her completely immobile. He then let go of her arms and began to slam her into the seabed. Water and wet sand went flying everywhere as he slammed her repeatedly, ending with another throw. She skipped against the water's surface and then again on the beach, stopping when she slammed into a stone wall. The others readied their weapons while Emerald continued his walk towards them.

"You may have had a chance against my corrupted form but now you are fighting a perfect gem!" He boasted.

"Okay that's enough!" Pearl shouts.

Pearl rushed towards him with her spear as Tanza and Ruby came with her. Ruby leapt in the air with her dual swords with Pearl and Tanza approaching from the side. Ruby fell to him, swords striking downwards, Pearl twirled to the side and leapt to him while Tanza rushed straight for a strong kick. Emerald merely grabbed Ruby's swords with his top pair of hands, Pearl's spear with one of his lower hands, and blocking Tanza's kick with the other. He looked over at each of the girls.

"Glad to see you're smart enough to group up against me." Emerald said.

Emerald crushed Ruby's swords and delivered two back fists to Tanza and Pearl. The two gems went flying back, Pearl being sent spinning while Tanza simply flew straight back. Ruby cowered in front of him as he looked down at her with a sadistic expression.

"You don't have to do this...you're still in there Tourmaline." Ruby uttered.

"You really think he's in here? Hmm, well maybe if we rattle it around a bit he'll come back." Emerald taunted as he tapped his head.

With no warning, he headbutted Ruby as hard as he could. She went down hard, clutching her broken nose and screaming in pain. Emerald stood back up and laughed.

"Nope! No dice, he's not coming back!" Emerald yelled.

He kicked her off the ground, sending her back towards the house. She flew into the air, slamming her back against the patio railing, causing it to crack and fall back, and her to bounce off and fall to the beach floor. Tanzanite clutched her sword tightly. She was scared to fight him, but she knew she had to do something. With a war cry, she came rushing towards Emerald. Emerald merely stood still, inhaling deeply. Before Tanzanite could even swing her sword, Emerald exhaled a storm of green fire. The ghastly flames engulfed Tanzanite as she stood still. Emerald closed his mouth and the fire disappeared, revealing Tanzanite still standing, but twitching and charred. Emerald walked up to her and gently grabbed her chin.

"Oh come on now, that was just a tan. Wait until you really burn." Emerald said menacingly.

Just then, he felt something wrap around his arm. He turned over to see Amethyst's whip around his arm, and Amethyst pulling as hard as she could. Tourmaline's grin widened as he grabbed the whip, yanking Amethyst towards him. She came flying towards him lighting fast. Before she could connect with him, Emerald sidestepped her. He then slammed his elbow and knee into her, crushing her stomach with the brutal attack. He let her fall to the ground as she curled up and held her stomach. Emerald picked her up by the head and brought her to eye level. She was still clutching her stomach but managed to flash a threatening scowl.

"Why even bother? You know you'll just get broken if you keep doing this." Emerald boasted.

"We want...our friend back." Amethyst groaned painfully.

Emerald laughed as he brought her closer.

"Oh I'm sorry Amethyst." Emerald said grimly, "He's mine now.".

Emerald gripped Amethyst's head tightly and headbutted her. A large, bloody, purple welt appeared on her forehead and Emerald followed it up with a few other headbutts. Blood streamed down Amethyst's face as she twitched and stared ahead in pain, barely conscious. Emerald let go with one hand and spun her around in a circle. After a few moments, he let go and sent her flying into the still twitching Tanzanite. The two were sent straight into the cliff side wall, it exploding with dust and debris from the impact. Emerald laughed again, but his attention was brought to Steven and Taz, still cowering in fear. Emerald let out a single solitary chuckle and walked towards the kids. Both got ready for a fight, but Emerald merely stood in front of them.

"Why do you cower in fear? You should be amazed by my power." Emerald claimed.

"Against our friends!?" Taz shouted.

"Well you certainly aren't treating me like a friend." He said grimly.

"It's because you're holding out friend Tourmaline hostage!" Steven shouted.

"Oh please, he's fine in here." Emerald said.

Before they could respond, Emerald crouched down with his hands in front of their faces. He made a couple of fists, and then flicked each of the kids in the forehead, sending them flying backwards. Emerald stood back up and smirked.

"So young...so naive." He said to himself.

Just then, he felt a pain in his back and chest. A loud crashing noise like that of shattering glass was sent through the air. Emerald looked down to see Pearl's spear coming out of his chest, and through his first gem. He turned around to see Pearl, standing tall and smiling confidently.

"It's over. Now give back our friend." Pearl said.

Emerald gripped his chest in pain as he came stumbling towards Pearl. Eventually he was close enough to the point where she could yank her spear out if she pleased. Emerald stared at her with a pained and angered expression.

"What's wrong? I can give you another spear if you want." Pearl gloated.

Suddenly, Emerald's pained expression turned back to his usual sanguine grin.

"Watch this." He said.

He grabbed Pearl's spear and yanked it out of his body, spraying green blood all over. He took the spear and broke it in two. Then as he grinned at Pearl, his chest began to regenerate. In a matter of seconds, his gem and body were completely healed. Pearl stared at him in horror.

"I love Tourmaline's regeneration. It's so useful." Emerald said gleefully.

"I...but…" Pearl stumbled.

"But still, THAT WASN'T VERY NICE!" Emerald shouted.

Emerald kneed Pearl in the stomach, causing her to keel over in pain. He then kicked her up a few feet and grabbed her body, her arms with his top pair and her legs with his bottom pair. He pulled her apart in a straight line and then slammed her back onto his knee. Pearl screamed in pain as Emerald bent her over her knee.

"You see Pearl? You're powerless. I can break you like a twig." He said sadistically.

As Pearl's back continued to crack and pop, Tanza came skating towards him, picking up as much speed as possible to end the fight quickly. Emerald was caught up in torturing Pearl, but noticed Tanza coming faster and faster. He decided to ignore her and continue to wreck Pearl, who was now foaming at the mouth from the intense shock and pain. Tanza reached Emerald and delivered a massive sidekick. A boom of wind came from the force as the blow connected with Emerald's jaw. Much to Tanza's dismay, Emerald was unmoved by the attack. He stood up, now only holding one of Pearl's arm in his right top hand. He looked down at Tanza and grabbed her throat with one of his hands.

"Spare me the words. I've already heard them all." Emerald said.

Emerald slammed her head into Pearl's and threw them both into the air. Emerald leapt up and kicked Tanza in the jaw, sending her flying into the cliffside, causing a massive indent to be made. Pearl fell lifeless to the beach ground, seconds later trying her best to stand back up. Emerald fell to the ground and then came rushing towards Tanza, still stuck in the wall. On his way he kicked Pearl into the house, causing her to smash through the stairs and slamming against the roof's edge. He tackled Tanza, pushing her deeper into the wall. He then proceeded to pummel her with a flurry of punches from each of his arms. After a minute, Tanza was nothing but bruises and bloody purple spots. Emerald gripped her by the head and threw her to the house. She went crashing through the base of the house and through the roof, the top part of her hanging from the hole she made. Emerald walked to the front of the house and gazed at all the gems, beaten and bloody. He smiled to himself as he reveled in his own power.

Suddenly, a large hand came crashing through the house and gripped him tightly. The hand brought him into the air, and another hand came out to tighten its grip on him. The dust settled from the house and it was revealed to be Garnet, her hands morphed to gigantic proportions. Her shades were broken, revealing her three angry eyes.

"This ends now!" She shouted.

Emerald felt the giant hand squeeze him tightly, but he still managed to keep his smile.

"Ah ah ah! If you can get big, so can I!" Emerald gleefully shouted.

A green light covered him and he began to grow. Garnet did her best to keep her grip, but she was helpless to stop Emerald from going back to his original size. Her hands were now merely touching his sides. Emerald gripped her hands with his lower pair of arms and began to squeeze them tightly. Garnet screamed in pain as she felt her gems begin to crack and break.

"How does it feel to be helpless? To be treated like a plaything? You're pathetic!" Emerald shouted.

With that he slammed Garnet's hands to the ground and Garnet fell to her knees. Her arms slithered back to their original size and she stared at her hands. Her gems were nearly destroyed, completely covered in cracks. She looked side to side to see her allies strewn about the house like rag dolls. Emerald turned to the beach and grabbed the kids with one hand. He looked down at Garnet with Steven and Taz gripped in one hand. The two woke up and saw the damage caused by him. Before they could say anything, Emerald dropped them in front of Garnet.

"Steven! Heal everyone now!" Emerald shouted.

Steven said nothing and went straight to Garnet. Garnet looked up at the giant fusion.

"Let this be a lesson to you. You can't beat me, so follow me. I can handle any situation. I can lead us to victory against any enemy. All you have to do is accept that your friend is dead." Emerald proposed, "So...what do you say?".

After Steven healed Garnet's hands, she stood up and glared at him.

"Never." Garnet declared.

Emerald scowled at her, but it turned back into a smile.

"Why am I not surprised? Oh well, if you need me, you'll find me here." Emerald said.

With that, Emerald turned around and sat in front of the house, his bottom pair of hands on his knees while the top pair were crossed.

"Next time you dare to fight me, I won't show any signs of mercy." Emerald threatened.

The gems held a conference in the ruined house. Steven managed to heal everyone despite their condition, but they all still hurt. They all stood around the breakfast bar, ready to discuss Emerald.

"How are we gonna get rid of him?" Amethyst asked.

"I have no idea. Fighting him didn't work, he nearly killed us. And I doubt we can just persuade him to let Tourmaline go." Tanza said.

"Well nonviolent options are all we got. It's impossible to fight him head on, so all we can do is talk to him." Tanzanite said.

"Well...there's always Sugilite." Amethyst suggested.

"Amethyst you know that's a bad idea!" Pearl shouted.

"What else are we supposed to do!? This guy could whip all our butts like that, but if we had Sugilite backing us up, we might have a chance!" Amethyst explained.

"And what if it turns out you're wrong? He would then kill all of us! You, me, Steven, everyone!" Pearl shouted.

"It's better than walking up to him and going "Hey can we have our friend back pretty please?", how stupid is that!?" Amethyst yelled back.

"Sugilite is not the answer." Garnet said.

The others looked to Garnet.

"Alexandrite?" They both said.

"No. He could probably overpower both of them." Garnet said.

"What!? What makes you so sure about that?" Amethyst asked.

"You're ignoring one factor about fighting him; we still don't know what his weapon is." Garnet stated.

Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other with matching worried concerns. Steven was the first to break the silence.

"So what if he didn't use his weapon? Does it make that much of a difference?" Steven said.

Garnet looked to Steven and walked up to him.

"Steven, a gem's weapon isn't just some tool, it's a part of our very being. If we don't use our weapon, we never are fighting at one-hundred percent. A bond is formed every time we summon it, and with that we gain a new found power that pushes us to new levels unattainable without it's help." Garnet explained.

"So if he's like that without his weapon…" Amethyst started.

"...Imagine what power he has when it's out." Pearl finished.

The others shuddered at the very thought of it.

"Well we can we just deal with having him instead of Tourmaline. I mean it's nice to have someone that strong on our side." Pearl said.

"Are you even listening to yourself!? You think we can just throw our hands up and accept that Tourmaline's gone?!" Ruby shouted.

"Don't act like I don't care about Tourmaline! I want him back just as much as you do but...but I just don't know if we can get him back." Pearl admitted.

"We have to figure out a way." Tanza said.

"And we will." Sapphire added.

"Well where can we start?" Pearl asked.

Just then, a bit of shilling fell from the hole in the ceiling. It landed on Pearl's head, making a small bonk noise. Pearl touched the sore spot and looked up at the ceiling. From the hole staring down at them, a pink lion was looking down upon them all.

"Lion! You're here!" Steven exclaimed.

"Huh, been a while since I saw that fuzzy guy." Ruby declared.

"He comes and goes as he pleases." Garnet said.

Lion jumped down through the hole and walked up to Steven. Steven hugged the pink cat's face and Lion nuzzled his head against Steven's body. Steven let Lion go and stared at him.

"Lion it's awful! Tourmaline got infected by a gem and became a monster! And then I fixed it and then he became that giant guy sitting in front of our house! I mean he looks cool but he's a mean jerk and won't give our friend back! You missed a lot." Steven explained.

Lion just blinked and then grabbed Steven by the shirt with his teeth. Lion turned around and jumped out of the hole in the ceiling. He landed on the beach and started to run towards Emerald.

"Uhh, Lion? I don't think he's in the mood to talk right now." Steven said.

Lion ignored Steven and kept running. Lion swerved around Emerald's massive leg and the two stood in front of Emerald. Emerald looked down at the two of them and cracked a small smile.

"Sup Steven. Who's your friend?" Emerald said.

Lion dropped Steven in front of Emerald and lazily jumped up on Emerald's leg.

"What do you think you're doing little kitten?" Emerald asked.

Steven got up from the sand and brushed himself off.

"Lion just does stuff sometimes. He's his own man." Steven said.

Emerald pinched two fingers near the base of Lion's mane and picked him up. He brought him near his chest and examined Lion.

"What makes you say that this thing is a guy?" Emerald asked.

"Cause all boy lions have manes." Steven admitted.

"They do?" Emerald said puzzled.

Lion started to squirm a bit, so Emerald lifted another hand and brought it underneath Lion. He dropped Lion on his other hand and Lion shook out his mane. Immediately, Lion ran up Emerald's arm and made it to his right shoulder. Lion turned to face Steven and then laid down. Scooting up as far as he could, Lion patted a bit of Emerald's chest with his paw. Emerald stared at the beast with mild discomfort, and Steven looked at Lion. Lion stared intensely at Steven, patting that same spot over and over again, hoping Steven got the hint. Emerald then brushed Lion off his shoulder. Lion bounced off his leg and landed next to Steven.

"Even your pets are weird. If you have nothing else to do, get out of here." Emerald ordered.

Lion stood up and shook all the sand off of him. Steven ran around Emerald with Lion following close behind. Lion reached his side and then looked down at him, and Steven looked up to Lion.

"I think I get what you were telling me Lion." Steven whispered confidently.

The two made it back inside with the gems looking right at them.

"What was that about?" Taz asked.

"Guys! Lion showed me how we can get Tourmaline back!" Steven exclaimed.

The gems raised an eyebrow at this claim.

"Oh really? And how's that?" Sapphire asked.

"Well, Lion went up on Emerald and started tapping this part of Emerald's chest." Steven pointed towards his heart, "So the answer is simple…".

Lion looked down at Steven with his usual expression.

"Emerald is obviously hiding his emotions through this tough guy act! So all we gotta do is sway his emotions and then he'll have to give Tourmaline back!" Steven proclaimed, "Right Lion?".

Lion just stared at the smiling Steven for four seconds. Then Lion walked away from Steven and walked onto the couch, he turned around a few times and then shoved his face into the couch. The gems then turned their attention back to Steven.

"He's proud of me." Steven declared.

"You really think this is going to work?" Pearl asked.

"You have any better ideas?" Tanza asked.

"Sadly no." Pearl said.

"Guess we don't have a choice." Tanza declared.

The gems stared at Emerald, who was still static. Steven turned to the others with a confident look.

"Okay, you all have your material ready?" Steven asked.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Ruby asked.

"It's gotta work. Lion said so himself. Right Lion?" Steven said as he turned to Lion.

Lion was in the doorway. In response he lied down and rolled his eyes.

"He knows it's good." Steven declared.

"Well alright. Who wants to go first?" Ruby asked.

"I think I'll go." Pearl said.

"I call next spot!" Amethyst said.

"We can figure out order while Pearl goes." Steven said.

"Alright...here I go." Pearl said.

Pearl jumped from the patio and carefully walked around Emerald. She made it in front of Emerald before he noticed her.

"What do you want Pearl? You here for round two?" Emerald joked.

"No I'm not here to fight. I'm here to tell you why Tourmaline is so important to us." Pearl admitted.

"Excuse you?" Emerald said puzzled.

"You see, when I first met Tourmaline he was sort of abrasive and, well, I thought he was a dangerous person. But as I got to know him he turned out to be a nice and caring person. Sure he made some mistakes in the past but he's a good person. I just don't think it's right that he has to leave this way, and I want him to come back." Pearl said.

Emerald stared at Pearl, puzzled by the tiny gem's speech.

"What?" He said.

"Well...I mean that I thought you should know why we….want him back so bad." Pearl stumbled.

Pearl ran past Emerald and back to the group. Emerald looked ahead, still puzzled by what she said. Pearl made it back to the group and hid behind a rock.

"How'd it go?" Sapphire asked.

"I had an effect at least." Pearl said.

"See? It's working!" Steven declared.

"Alright, I'm up!" Amethyst said as she ran forward.

Amethyst jumped and bounced off Emerald's knee and faced Emerald.

"Now you?" Emerald said.

"Look, Tourmaline was an awesome guy. He helped me with wrestling, watched bad movies with me, got me food, messed with Pearl with me, he was a real buddy! I remember a while ago while we were wrestling, he taught me this new submission move. It took me forever to get it right but he kept with me and eventually I perfected it. He never gave up on me and we did something cool together. I want to do more of those things with him, which is why I want him back." Amethyst said.

"What kind of submission move?" Emerald asked.

"Umm, a sort of leg….lock...thing." Amethyst said as she started to blush, "None of your business!".

Amethyst ran off and Emerald was left even more confused than before. Amethyst jumped behind the rock with Pearl and covered her face. There was an awkward silence for a second, but then Tanza spoke.

"So was this "leg lock" before my date with him, or after?" Tanza asked, irritated.

"Before! Does it matter!?" Amethyst shouted.

"Somewhat." Tanza said.

"Well it was a thing we did out boredom and that's that. Now shut it." Amethyst said as she pouted.

"What are they talking about?" Steven asked.

"You don't need to know." Garnet stated.

"Okay I'm up." Sapphire said.

Sapphire made it to Emerald and prepared to deliver her speech.

"Tourmaline made me feel welcome. I was lost for years, but then he found me and helped me remember who I am. There are still many ways that I have to thank him, so please consider giving him back." Sapphire said.

"I...okay?" Emerald said, still confused.

Sapphire calmly walked back and Tanzanite and Taz moved towards him. They faced the confused giant and began to talk.

"Tourmaline saved our lives and treated us like family. He barely even knew us but he risked his life to protect us." Tanzanite began.

"He's our brother and we want him back, so please consider it okay?" Taz asked.

The others walked away and then Garnet arrived to deliver her speech.

"The boy Tourmaline is not only a friend, but a remnant of a person I respected long ago. Jade was a true warrior who put everyone before him. He risked his life multiple times to save my life and the lives of others. He sacrificed himself for my leader Rose, and without her I wouldn't have Steven. I see Jade in Tourmaline, and something more as well. I want to protect him as Jade protected me." Garnet stated.

Garnet walked away and finally came Tanza. Ruby hung back with the crowd.

"Don't you want to say something?" Steven asked.

"I tried...I don't think he'll listen to what I say." Ruby said.

Tanza walked in front of the giant gem and then spoke.

"When I first met Tourmaline, I was a bit suspicious of him. He may have saved my friend's life, but there was still something about him that rubbed me the wrong way. But eventually, I warmed up to him. I saw what a truly caring and kind person he was. As we traveled together, I felt a higher sense of...emotions for him. Then we went out together, and we shared such a beautiful night together. It was then, I was unsure of myself, but I slowly realized what my feelings for him were...I love him." Tanza admitted.

The others stared at her in shock. Each and everyone with a separate sense of emotion. Emerald's confused gaze changed into a small and empathetic look. He lowered a hand and Tanza walked onto it. Slowly Emerald raised her up to his face.

"Tanza...I think I understand what you and the others are feeling. This sense of emptiness and loss without Tourmaline. I get it now." Emerald said.

Tanza smiled at Emerald.

"You...you do?" Tanza said hopefully.

"Yes, and I want you to tell the others these words." Emerald requested.

Tanza beamed as he looked at her. But then his open hand tilted over and she slid down a bit. Emerald closed his hand and tightly gripped Tanza. A cruel scowl came across his face.

"Move. On." He said coldly.

With that he tossed Tanza at the crowd and faced the ocean once again. Tanza smashed into the sand and created a massive explosion of dust. The others stared down at the broken Tanza and then they stared at each other.

"Well now what do we do?" Taz asked.

The gems conferenced in the kitchen again. Tanza was lying down face first on the couch, and Lion was lying next to her. Taz was sitting next to Tanza, with her hand on Tanza's head, looking down at her with a new sense of empathy.

"Well that was a waste of time and effort." Amethyst blurted out.

"It was worth a shot at least." Tanzanite said.

"So now what do we do?" Ruby asked.

"Hmmmm...wait I got it!" Steven declared.

"Another one?" Sapphire said.

"Maybe the reason he didn't listen to us is because he doesn't look at us like equals. But if he were to hear it from an actual fusion...he might listen!" Steven said.

"That...actually makes sense." Ruby admitted.

"So should we form Sugilite or-" Amethyst started.

"If you say her name one more time I'm going to smack you." Pearl interrupted.

Amethyst shut up and glared at Pearl.

"But that does sound good. Let's form Opal and have her talk to him." Pearl said.

"Okay." Amethyst said.

Pearl and Amethyst walked towards the warp pad and began their dance. Pearl danced gracefully with her ballet while Amethyst did her usual hip hop dance moves. The two moved closer together and a white light enveloped the both of them as they at last met. From that light came the giant woman Opal. The others stared in amazement at the graceful fusion. They haven't seen her since their battle on the beach, but it was nice to see her again. Without a word of warning, she rushed forward and leapt through the hole in the ceiling. She fell face first towards the patio, only to catch herself and press off the railing. She flipped through the air and landed on Emerald's shoulder. He looked over to see the giant woman.

"Good evening, who are you?" Emerald asked.

"You should remember who I am." Opal said to him.

"If you're referring to Tourmaline's memories...they're getting a little fuzzy." Emerald said.

Opal was surprised by this revelation.

"_Tourmaline's slipping...we need to take care of this fast." _Opal thought to herself.

Opal leapt in front of Emerald.

"Listen Emerald, I know the fear of having to revert back to your original form, but it's not something to disregard. We exist as a way to protect our fellow gems. Whoever makes us whole, we have to listen to them. They are the one's who created us, and we can't abandon them just to-" Opal explained.

Opal was crushed underneath one of Emerald's giant fists. The giant woman lied in pain, unable to move after the brutal attack.

"If you're a fusion, then why are you so weak?" Emerald asked.

"You...can't...do this." Opal uttered.

"I can do what I please." Emerald said with a smile.

Emerald picked up the crushed Opal and tossed her back to the house. As she fell, she poofed away and Pearl &amp; Amethyst fell in her place. Garnet and Ruby caught the two gems and brought them inside. Emerald scoffed to himself.

"_I'm getting sick of these games." _He thought to himself.

Back in the house, Pearl and Amethyst were placed on the chairs by the breakfast bar.

"I can stand, but thank you." Pearl said.

"Yeah, I'm good too." Amethyst added.

"Well that didn't last a freaking second." Sapphire commented.

"Okay, maybe we could...uhhh….uhhh!" Steven rambled.

"I guess the answer is clear. We need Sugilite." Garnet said.

"What!?" Pearl and Amethyst shouted.

"Nonononono! Not after last time! Why don't we make Alexandrite instead?" Pearl suggested.

"Sugilite is the closest match to Emerald in terms of appearance, and she might be able to match him in power too." Garnet explained.

"Okay but what if she does defeat Emerald, what then?" Pearl asked.

"If she refuses to go back, take her down." Garnet ordered, "After all you were able to do it by yourself, right Pearl?".

"Yeah! And this time you'll have a whole team backing you up...plus she'd be pretty beat as it is." Steven said.

"...Steven get the laser light cannon." Pearl requested.

Steven looked at her with a confused look, but nodded. Sapphire went to go help him, and the other's stared at Pearl.

"Just in case." Pearl stated.

"Amethyst, you ready?" Garnet asked.

"You know it." Amethyst said confidently.

"Good, let's get Tourmaline back." Garnet stated.

Emerald sat in the same spot, staring at the waves. He had been dozing for an hour, bored out of his mind, and just woke up. The waves were soothing to him, they helped ease his spirit.

"_The other's haven't done anything to me in a while. Guess they finally accepted the facts and are living with it." _He thought to himself.

The other gems were staring at the great fusion's back. They had the laser light cannon on the patio and awaited the moment they had to use it. Taz turned to Pearl.

"When is Sugilite going to be here?" She asked.

"She'll be here...I hope. Garnet and Amethyst just had to move somewhere where Emerald wouldn't notice them." Pearl explained.

Suddenly, they felt a large tremor. Then another a few seconds later. Pearl shuddered in anticipation. She knew that Sugilite was coming. Emerald noticed the ocean water begin to ripple. His relaxed look turned to one of curiosity. He didn't notice the tremors, but he was fixated on the ocean. Then a great shadow came over him. He looked up to see something big falling from the sky. A second later, the mysterious object landed in front of him, causing a massive cloud of dust to appear and a massive tremor to shake the earth. The gems on the patio did their best to maintain balance as the earth shook. The dust settled, and revealed a giant, four-armed fusion. Her long dark purple hair flowed in the wind and she stared down through her sunglasses with a wicked smile.

"So you're the bad boy who's causing trouble in my town?" She said.

"I've just been sitting here. And who might you be?" Emerald asked.

"Don't play innocent you jerk. And the name's Sugilite." Sugilite snapped.

"Well Sugilite, I don't know what you're talking about but I can assure you I'm done causing trouble. The other's have accepted me, so there's no reason for me to get...rowdy." Emerald said slyly.

"Yeah, no. They got me specifically to boot you out and get this Tourmaline guy out of your body or some weird crud." Sugilite stated.

Emerald's relaxed expression turned to a scowl.

"So you gonna give him back, or am I gonna have to do this the hard way?" Sugilite threatened.

"Tourmaline is gone. He's a part of me now, and I refuse to go back." Emerald stated.

Sugilite was taken aback by this statement. With those words she sat down in front of Emerald, meeting him at eye level.

"So you're a fusion who doesn't want to go back...how interesting." Sugilite said, "I've been in the same situation.".

"Oh my god if you're gonna give me the same speech as that small, four-armed gem from earlier-" Emerald complained.

"Shut up I'm not finished. I was in that situation a while ago...and now I'm back in it." Sugilite said with a grin.

"Go on." Emerald demanded.

"Well considering that the gems back there had to beg me to sort you out, I figure if the two of us group up, we can do whatever we want!" Sugilite said in a sinister tone, "I'll be able to live my life and you can do your thing as my sidekick. So what do ya say? Let's live together.".

Emerald scowled at the smiling Sugilite.

"Don't put me in the same category as you. I am a natural being, my existence was planned ever since Tourmaline's conception...you're a tool, nothing more." Emerald said coldly.

Sugilite's grin turned to an angry frown.

"Come again?" Sugilite asked.

"My unification was natural. Mother, father, son, all combined to create the ultimate gem. You were summoned by some silly ritual just to take care of a problem. That's all you are, a means to an end." Emerald explained.

Sugilite scowled and then stood up. She took a deep breath, and then kicked Emerald in the jaw. Emerald flew back a few feet. He shook his head and glared at Sugilite with hostile expression.

"I'm disappointed that you turned down my offer, so I'll have to crush you now! But hey, I got an assignment and I guess that's what a means to an end is supposed to do!" Sugilite yelled.

Emerald got to his feet and rushed towards Sugilite. The two giants locked arms and struggled to gain the upper hand. Emerald tried to uppercut her with his lower pair of arms, but Sugilite grabbed them with her own. Emerald moved his head back, and Sugilite did the same. The two flung their heads forward, knocking them into each other. A loud crack was heard and the two stumbled back from the impact. Emerald charged first and tried to knee her in the stomach, but Sugilite stopped his attack with her bottom pair of arms. She then punched him square in the gem on his chest, causing him to reel back. She pounced on top of him and pinned him to the ground. Her knees were pressed on top of his lower arms, and she stared vividly at her trapped prey.

"The way the gems talked you up, I thought you would at least be a bit of fun to play with. But I guess now you're only fun as a plaything!" She shouted.

Sugilite began to punch Emerald in the face over and over again. The other's watched, cheering the giant fusion on.

"That's it Sugilite! Give it to him good!" Tanza cheered.

"Jeez. I knew Amethyst hyped her up as a force of nature, but even that pales to how she really is." Taz commented.

Pearl grabbed her arm, nervous of the outcome.

After suffering enough abuse, Emerald dodged one of her punches and grabbed Sugilite's arm with his teeth. Sugilite roared in pain, and Emerald reacted immediately with a punch to her stomach with one of his free arms. Sugilite bent over in pain, and then Emerald followed it up with a vicious punch to her chin. Sugilite fell back, her shades flying off her face. Emerald stood up, feeling his bruised face. Sugilite sat up and revealed her five, glaring eyes to Emerald. She got back to her feet and Emerald smiled to himself.

"I'm impressed. You're actually doing some damage! You might be a fun playmate." He taunted.

"You think you're the big dog here!? You ain't nothing compared to me!" Sugilite screamed.

Sugilite's gems began to glow and from them materialized her massive flail. A sadistic smile came across her face, as she was ready to pulverize her opponent.

"Don't expect anymore love taps from me little man!" Sugilite shouted.

Sugilite swung her flail forward, slamming down onto Emerald. Emerald stood and took the blow, blocking with all of his hands. He gripped the giant fist tightly, and then was pulled forward by Sugilite. Sugilite ran up to him and kneed him in the chin. Emerald flew up, wincing from the pain. Before he could react, Sugilite grabbed his face and slammed him into the ground. She ran forward, dragging him through the sand and through a few scattered boulders. Finally, she picked him up again and threw him into the plateau wall, smashing him into the stone.

"Night night!" Sugilite shouted as she swung her mace around.

She spun her mace in circles, gaining momentum until at last she smashed it into Emerald's chest. The sound of shattering glass and stone was heard as Emerald was sent deeper into the cliffside. He keeled over from the pain and coughed up a bit of blood. Sugilite smiled down at the wounded challenger.

"Ha! This all you got?" Sugilite taunted.

Emerald shook from the impact, his chest gem completely shattered. Emerald painfully got up to his feet, panting. Sugilite stared at him with a smug look on her face. Emerald's pained expression turned to a sanguine grin. He stood up tall and let his gem regenerate.

"Oh good. I can break you over and over!" Sugilite exclaimed.

"So this is what you're capable of." Emerald said morbidly.

"Huh?"

"I wanted to see how strong you were, and you've greatly exceeded my expectations. But I guess I just got a bit cocky, everyone else was so weak in comparison, but now I have someone I can truly call a challenge." Emerald elaborated.

Sugilite stared at him with great curiosity. She was kicking the crud out of him earlier, so why is he acting like he just finished a warm-up round. The others had moved to a lower level of the beach with the laser light cannon to get a better look at the action.

"What is he talking about?" Tanzanite asked.

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Pearl said.

Emerald's smile faded into an angry expression.

"That's it! No more! Good-bye! This little game is over! Stupid girl, now you will see what happens to those I truly hate!" Emerald shouted.

Sugilite's eyes widened slightly as she saw Emerald's chest gem begin to glow.

"You will pay! Yes, you and those stupid gems! You're going to pay for every little transgression against me!" Emerald shouted.

"What the-" Sugilite uttered.

Emerald screamed in anger as his gem glowed brighter and brighter. The force of his gem causing a small sandstorm to sweep towards the other gems. Tanza and Pearl grabbed Taz and Steven to shield them from the storm, as the others covered themselves as the massive gust of wind and sand overtook them. From his massive gem, a large rod as long as he was tall came forth. He grabbed it with his top two hands, and twirled it around in a circle. He stopped it at a straight horizontal angle, and then two large crescent blades sprouted from the ends of the staff.

The dust had settled, and the gems looked forward to see the giant with his weapon in hand.

"So that's his weapon...a double scythe!" Pearl exclaimed.

"This looks bad." Tanzanite commented.

Sugilite stared at the opposing fusion, satisfied that he summoned his weapon. Gripping the large weapon, he slashed at the sea, causing a massive wave to be made from the sheer force of his strike. Emerald turned back to Sugilite.

"Don't expect to die peacefully!" Emerald shouted.

Sugilite gnashed her teeth at Emerald.

"I don't expect to die at all!" Sugilite shouted.

"The real battle begins now!" Emerald shouted as he rushed to Sugilite.

Before Sugilite could even react, Emerald sliced off one of her bottom arms. Sugilite screamed in pain as purple blood spurted from her severed limb. She punched Emerald in the face with one hand and leapt back to gain some distance.

"You're gonna pay for that!" She screamed as she spun her flail around.

She swung her massive flail at Emerald, but he managed to deflect the attack with his Scythe. The massive fist went flying to the ocean, creating a massive wave with it's impact. Emerald came rushing towards her once again, sadistically laughing as he came closer. Sugilite jerked her flail back and it hit Emerald in the back. Emerald stumbled forward as Sugilite took the opportunity to wrap her chain around his neck, squeezing it tightly.

"You like that little man!?" She shouted, "I'll make your damn head pop!".

Emerald smiled as he inhaled through his nose.

"Get away from him Sugilite! He's about to breath his fire!" Tanzanite shouted.

"What!?" Sugilite shouted back.

Emerald then breathed his green flames on Sugilite, engulfing her entire torso. The others stared in horror as the flames danced around Sugilite. Emerald closed his mouth, and the flames ceased. The smoke cleared, revealing an angry Sugilite.

"You can't turn the heat up on me!" Sugilite shouted.

Sugilite then gripped Emerald's scythe, trying to wrench it from his hands. The struggle went on as the other's stared at the titans in anticipation. Emerald struggled to get her to let go, but she wouldn't budge. Then his scythe began to glow again. The right side of his scythe lost it's crescent blade and a new light rod of light formed in Emerald's bottom hands. The dual scythe lost one of it's sets of blades to give birth to another scythe. Emerald reared the second scythe back, and then swung it at Sugilite's stomach. She let go of the top scythe to dodge the attack, only being grazed by the blade. She gripped her stomach with her remaining bottom hand as she stared at Emerald. Emerald then rushed forward, smacking her in the face with the top scythe's hilt, then punching her in the face. Finally, he gripped his bottom scythe low and swung it around. The scythe's staff hit Sugilite and she slid back into the blade as Emerald swung her around, eventually letting go and sending her flying upwards. Sugilite came crashing down to earth, gripping her stomach and arching her back in pain. Emerald walked over and stood over his downed foe.

"You've made a fun punching bag, but I think we're done here." He said as he brought his scythe up, "Now let's see what your insides look like!".

Sugilite grit her teeth as she prepared herself for the killing blow, but then her sight was fixated on a pink glow coming from the others. Emerald stopped his attack and his sadistic expression turned to one of concern. He turned around to see what Sugilite was staring at, only to see a pink light coming from the group. He immediately recognized the light.

"Noooooooo!" He shouted as the laser light cannon fired.

The laser enveloped his entire upper body, completely disintegrating it. After the laser settled, all that was left of Emerald was a twitching pair of legs. They fell backwards towards the others and then were completely still. The other gems stared in amazement as the cannon smoked.

"Steven...we did it!" Tanza exclaimed.

Steven and Ruby rushed over to Sugilite while the others stared at what was left of Emerald. The two made it to her severed left arm when she looked over at the two.

"Nice shot little man." Sugilite complimented.

"You did awesome Sugilite! You're not such a bad person after all." Steven said.

"Of course I'm not. I'm like him, I just want to be here, to exist is all." Sugilite explained.

Steven's smile turned into a concerned expression.

"Do you...think what we did was bad?" Steven asked.

"Nah the guy was a jerk. Now do me a favor and heal up these wounds." Sugilite ordered.

Steven stared at his hands and back to Sugilite.

"I don't think I have enough spit." Steven admitted.

The others examined Emerald's legs, checking him out to see if he was still completely dead. Tanza scowled and kicked the lifeless body.

"Good riddance." She spat.

Pearl stood on top of one of his leg gems, her spear in hand. She wasn't ready to take any chances, so she readied her spear to strike the remaining gems. Sapphire jumped up next to her to stop her.

"Woah Pearl! Ease up, the creep is dead. If you do that you might accidentally hurt Tourmaline too." Sapphire explained.

Pearl lowered her spear.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I'm not one to take second chances. After his healing power came from Tour-"

Suddenly, the two legs reared back, flinging Pearl and Sapphire off of them. Everyone stared up in shock as the legs stood up on their own. A sickening, snapping noise came from the legs as they twitched and shook.

"He's regenerating!" Pearl shouted, "Steven, come back to the cannon before he-" Pearl shouted.

Just then, Emerald was whole again. His body and arms were back. He opened his eyes and stared down at Ruby and Steven.

"Well that certainly was an experience." Emerald laughed.

"Steven, get to the cannon! I'll hold him off!" Ruby ordered.

"Ohoho! Well isn't that just…" Emerald started.

With his next word, Emerald smacked Ruby with his bottom hand as hard as he could, sending the gem flying into the plateau's wall.

"PRECIOUS!" He finished.

"Ruby!" Steven shouted as he ran to his injured friend.

"Now that felt good." Emerald said, satisfied.

"Steven get back here, we need you for the cannon!" Taz shouted.

Hearing this, Emerald shifted his attention to Steven, who was now at an unconscious Ruby's side.

"So he was responsible for that attack?" Emerald asked.

"Keep your hands off of him!" Sugilite shouted, "I'm your opponent, leave the kid out of it!".

"Oh I'll get to you, but that little regeneration trick has left me a little peckish. And you know what Sugilite? Steven's looking mighty tasty!" Emerald shouted.

Steven turned to Emerald to see his gaping maw open wide.

"DOWN THE HATCH!" He shouted in a wicked voice.

A swirling vortex came from his mouth, sucking Steven and Ruby into his mouth. Taz used her powers to try to bring them towards them, but she could only hold them in place.

"Come on Taz, you can do it!" Pearl shouted nervously.

"I'm...trying...AAH!" Taz shouted as a shock went through her head.

"Topaz!" Tanza shouted as she rushed to her friend's side.

Steven kept flying towards Emerald's mouth, holding onto Ruby tightly, he made a bubble around the two of them. As they entered his mouth, Emerald slammed his jaws onto the bubble, causing it to burst and the two gems to be sent flying down his throat. Emerald laughed as he turned to the other gems.

"You see what you're struggles have brought you? Now Steven and your friend are gone, never to leave my stomach." Emerald stated.

"You sick freak!" Sugilite shouted.

Emerald turned his attention back to Sugilite, who was struggling to get back up. With a smile, he stomped on Sugilite's chest gem, pushing her back down.

"Now now Sugilite, that's no way to act with your wounds." Emerald taunted.

"I'll rip them out of your stomach you creep!" Sugilite shouted.

"Alright, but it's going to be a challenge with two functioning arms." Emerald said.

"I have three working arms you jack-"

With that Emerald stomped on Sugilite's bottom elbow, crushing it underneath his heel. Sugilite screamed in pain as her bone shattered. Emerald jumped off of Sugilite and to the front of the house. There he sat back down in his usual position.

"I think I'll let the rest of you live. You've already lost so much, I think a fitting punishment would be for you to live with your mistakes." Emerald said.

The others just stared at him, a new sense of hopelessness flooding through them. Pearl started to tear up.

"Steven...I'm sorry." She said as she started to sob.

Emerald smiled his usual wicked grin.

"You've lost." He said sadistically.

Steven woke up and shook his head. The floor felt wet and squishy, and the room he was in was completely dark. He got up to his feet and looked around to see only black. He scratched his head, wondering where to go, until he came to a realization. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a glow stick. He bent the plastic stick and it glowed a light green.

"And the gems thought emergency glow sticks were silly." He said to himself.

He looked down to see the floor was a pink, fleshy color. He shuddered at the thought of remembering what happened to him.

"Oh man, the gems are gonna flip when they get me out of here." Steven said to himself.

"You mean if they get you out of here." Emerald's voice boomed.

"Emerald! Why did you eat me!?" Steven shouted.

"Why did you try to blow me up?" He asked.

"Don't flip this on me!" Steven shouted back.

"Well if you're gonna have an attitude I can expel you out. Though you might not enjoy the trip out." Emerald said wickedly.

"Tha-wait no!" Steven shouted.

"Can't stop now!" Emerald shouted.

"No!" Steven shouted.

" Grah! Whew, how do humans do this? Oh well, better luck next time Stevie boy." Emerald said.

"There is no way I'm coming out of you like that! I'm leaving out the Steven way!" Steven shouted.

Steven started to run forward and found a hole in Emerald's gem encrusted guts. He stepped through the hole to find a place full of crystals. They gave off a faint, ghastly green glow against his pink innards. Steven kept running along to find a cluster of them, and what appeared to be another hole in Emerald's insides.

"Better up than down." Steven said to himself.

Steven started to climb up the crystals, nearly slipping on the slimy things. He made it to the hole to see another corridor of flesh and gemstone. He walked through the innards as the gems glowed a spectrum of odd colors.

"I wonder where Ruby is? I got her with me, so shouldn't she be with me?" Steven asked himself. Steven kept walking up the slimy corridor, until he was met by an incredibly foul odor. He stopped to cover his nose and mouth. His eyes began to water from the grotesque smell, but he managed to put his shirt over his nose and mouth. It didn't help much, but it was enough for him to keep going.

"Oh man, if only the gems were here right now. They'd know what to do." Steven told himself.

"Awww is widdle Steven missing his famawy?" Emerald mocked.

"Shut up Emerald! You have no idea how I feel about the gems!" Steven shouted.

"Actually, I think I do. Poor Pearl is still bawling her eyes out at the very thought of losing her precious little Steven." Emerald said maliciously.

"Oh no Pearl! Pearl! It's okay I'm fine!" Steven shouted as loud as he could.

"Sorry kiddo, nothing's coming out of this gut." Emerald stated.

"Oh no, and Garnet and Amethyst." Steven worried.

"So that's where Sugilite came from. Sorry but they're still one, although now they're a bit...broken." Emerald said.

"No! How could you do this?!" Steven shouted.

"Let me ask you this first: Why exactly do you want to kill me?" Emerald asked.

"What? We aren't killing you, we're just getting our friend back." Steven answered.

"By ripping him out of me, knowing that if he leaves, I'm gone." Emerald argued.

"Well he had no choice in the matter! He deserves to live his own way!" Steven shouted.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Emerald asked.

"He should be free and not confined somewhere like he's a prisoner! He has a right to exist!" Steven answered.

"Okay then. So I guess it's also okay for you to do everything you can to tear me away from existence to bring Tourmaline back right? After all the circumstances are different in this case." Emerald said bleakly.

"That's just...I mean...keeping him inside of you isn't right!" Steven shouted.

"That depends on your definition of right, but do your best to delude yourself into thinking you're the good guy here." Emerald said.

Steven made it to a wide open space illuminated by a greenish-yellow light. He looked down to see some sort of liquid of the same color. He saw some fleshy chunks floating on the liquid, like tiny islands. Then Steven's eyes went wide when he saw Ruby, laying unconscious on one of them.

"Ruby!" He shouted.

Steven leaped from island to island, doing his best not to slip and fall into what was surely stomach acid. Eventually he made it to Ruby. Steven grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"Ruby wake up! I need your help bad!" Steven shouted.

Ruby's eyes twitched a little, and then slowly opened.

"Mnn...Steven…?"

Steven beamed and hugged her tightly.

"Oh thank goodness, you're okay!" Steven cheered.

"Yeah but...where are we?" Ruby asked.

"Oh wow, I can't believe you're actually still alive Ruby." Emerald's voice boomed.

"Emerald! Where are we!?" Ruby shouted.

"Uhhh, Ruby we're-"

"Why in the belly of the beast of course!" Emerald shouted.

"Oh no!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Oh yes!" Emerald yelled back.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Ruby said as she clutched her head.

"Me too." Emerald answered back.

"Nonono!" Steven begged.

"Lucky for you I still haven't figured out this, excursion, thing yet." Emerald taunted.

Ruby looked to Steven.

"So what do we have to do to get out of here?" Ruby asked.

"I've just been going up. Better than going down." Steven said.

"I agree one hundred percent." Ruby said as she picked up Steven.

Ruby bounded from island to island, both looking at the walls of Emerald as they desperately searched for a way out. Steven noticed a hole and pointed at it.

"Ruby look!" Steven demanded.

Ruby turned to where Steven pointed, and saw a hole high above the acid pit. She summoned her swords and took them each in hand. She then leapt off the lump of flesh and to the wall of Emerald's stomach, stabbing her swords into him. The whole room rumbled as she climbed up the wall and to the hole, flinging Steven up first before climbing up carefully.

"I suggest you knock that off!" Emerald barked.

Just then, a huge shock wave hit the area. Steven was shaken by this hit and Ruby nearly slipped up and fell, yanking one of her swords out instead. Steven rushed over to her, dropping his glow stick, and offered a hand. She clamped onto it tightly and Steven used all his strength to hoist up his friend. Ruby got to her feet and Steven reached into his back pocket for another glow stick. He pulled out another glow stick and cracked it on.

"Can't believe I thought that was a bad idea." Ruby admitted.

Steven smiled smugly as he lead the way deeper into Tourmaline. The two eventually reached a large, empty chamber. Unlike the rest of his body, this area was a complete dark green as opposed to the fleshy red it was earlier. The floor wasn't sticky and wet anymore, but hard and glassy. The two looked up to see a giant, spiral gemstone lodged inside a wall.

"I think we made it to his chest!" Steven declared.

"Oh really? Well that's no good. I think I'll have to take care of this." Emerald said grimly.

"What do you mean by that?" Ruby said, concerned.

"Oh you'll see. I'm going to miss you when you're gone." Emerald said.

A rumble quaked throughout the chamber and Ruby ran to one of the corners of the room, covering Steven with her body. Suddenly from the hole they came from, a great flame came forth and filled the room with fire. Eventually, the flames died out and Steven looked up at Ruby. Ruby let go and Steven looked up at her.

"Are you okay?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, I just got a warm is all." Ruby said.

"Mwahahaha, surprised?" Emerald said.

"No! Well, yes but it was a stupid surprise!" Steven shouted.

"Oh well. If at first you don't succeed, try...try aga-GAH!" Emerald exclaimed.

The room turned on it's side and Steven and Ruby slammed against the wall. Then the room stood upright again and the two gems fell back to the floor.

"What was that about?" Steven asked.

"It seems that Sugilite doesn't know when to lay down and die. Excuse me, I have a pest to exterminate." Emerald said.

"Wait! Don't hurt her!" Steven exclaimed.

Emerald was silent as the chamber began to rumble and shake. Emerald was on the move to finish Sugilite off.

"Hello? Are you listening?" Steven said.

"I doubt it. Come on let's keep going." Ruby said.

"Where? This place is completely empty." Steven said, "Unless...hmmm.".

Steven looked up at the roof of the chamber. He looked all over but in the top right corner of the room, he spotted a spherical area. There was a faint green glow coming from it.

"There! There's a thing there!" Steven shouted as he pointed up at the thing.

Ruby looked up and saw the glowing green spot.

"Well it isn't much, but it's something to go for." Ruby declared.

Steven jumped onto her back and the gem bounded up to the sphere. She stabbed into it with one sword, and then sunk her other sword into it. She slid the blade downwards and sliced open the giant sphere, and a large amount of green goo started to leak out. Then, something slipped out and hung from the from the inside of the sphere's wall. It was Tourmaline. The others stared in shock at their lifeless friend.

"Is...is that...Tourmaline?" Steven asked.

"Yes...yes it is!" Ruby said as she started to tear up.

"Well what are you waiting for? Set him free!" Steven ordered.

Sugilite was slammed to the ground, Purple blood spurting from her wounds. Emerald towered over her with an irritated expression.

"I've told you that this game wasn't fun anymore, so why are you still persisting?" Emerald asked.

"Shut...your mouth!" Sugilite shouted as she got up.

Emerald sighed.

"I thought you wanted to stay in this world? Why are you so eager to be taken out of it?" Emerald asked.

"I want to take you out because you're an evil bastard!" She shouted.

"Oh well that's cute. I'm not bad, I just want to be here, complete and whole." Emerald said.

"Don't make excuses!" Sugilite shouted.

"It's not an excuse, it's a fa-!"

Emerald groaned in pain as he gripped his chest. A light began to glow from his chest and his gem began to crack. Sugilite stared at the pained gem in confusion, but took her opportunity to rush towards him. With one punch, she ripped a hole inside of Emerald. Emerald roared in pain as he felt Sugilite's hand move inside of him. Sugilite felt around the empty chamber, eventually feeling two tiny things. Using the last of her strength, she gripped them tightly and ripped them out of Emerald, falling on her back. Emerald screamed in pain as Sugilite gazed at her hand. There she saw Steven, Ruby and what she assumed to be Tourmaline. The two gems looked at the giant woman as Tourmaline lied unconscious, covered in green goo.

"Heh, I told him I'd rip you out of em." Sugilite laughed.

With those words, Sugilite poofed away, leaving only Garnet and Amethyst, lying still on the beach. The other gems rushed towards Garnet and Amethyst.

"Garnet! Amethyst! Are you okay?" Pearl asked.

"Yes...we're fine." Garnet strained.

"Yeah...and we found some guys in him." Amethyst said.

The others looked over to see Steven standing up and Ruby holding Tourmaline. They immediately rushed over to them, Pearl wrapping her arms around Steven and squeezing the boy tightly.

"Oh Steven I'm so glad you're okay!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Yes I'm all good, but Tourmaline." Steven said.

Pearl turned to see the others crowding around Tourmaline. Tanza had brought over Garnet, her being slung over Tanza's shoulder, and Sapphire picked up Amethyst. The others stared at the boy's lifeless body, hoping that he was okay. Ruby shook him lightly, but he was unresponsive. Just then, they felt a tremor as Emerald stomped back towards them. He was cracking and bleeding as he towered over the other gems.

"Give him back! I need him!" He screamed.

Ruby put Tourmaline down and drew her swords again. She stepped forward towards the giant and stared up at him. Sapphire summoned her claws and joined Ruby, followed by Tanzanite, Tanza, and Taz. Pearl stayed by her friends, but they painfully rose to their feet.

"Garnet, Amethyst please! You can't push yourselves like this!" Pearl pleaded.

Garnet and Amethyst smiled at Pearl.

"You think we can just lie here while we let those kids defend our friend?" Garnet said.

"He's our buddy too. I'd feel pretty rotten to just lie here and let them fight without me." Amethyst added.

Pearl sighed and helped the two up.

"I'll watch over the two of you." Pearl said.

The two smiled at her and summoned their weapons. They walked over and joined their friends. Emerald stared down at the group as they blocked Tourmaline.

"You all must have a deathwish! Move now and I'll spare your pathetic lives!" Emerald shouted.

"No. He's our friend, and we're keeping him." Ruby said.

"Araaaah! I'll kill you all!" Emerald shouted.

The gems prepared for the fight of their lives, but suddenly, a glow came from Emerald's chest wound. He stared down at it and covered his chest hole. But then, a green light burst through and went straight to Tourmaline. The gems looked behind them to see Jade's gemstone, covered in light, in the shape of a man. It knelt down next to Tourmaline and picked him up.

"Wake up Tourmaline. Wake up." It said in a smooth voice.

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl's eyes widened as they heard the voice.

"Your friends need you Tourmaline. Take my power like I intended you to have it." The voice commanded.

With that the energy dissipated and enveloped Tourmaline. The energy then dissipated and Jade's gemstone fell to the ground. Tourmaline's eyes shot open and he looked over to his dad's gemstone, now completely cracked and shattered.

"Yes sir." Tourmaline uttered.

Amethyst turned to Garnet.

"Was that...Jade?" She asked.

"Who else could it have been?" Garnet said.

The gems then turned back to Emerald, who was now screaming and shrinking down in size. They watched as the giant monster shrunk down to Garnet's size, writhing in pain.

"What have you done to me!?" He screamed.

Tourmaline stood up and his gems began to glow his usual glow.

"I know that was you father. You came to be whole with me at last, to give me the strength to protect my friends. You know I'm not a destroyer, but a guardian. And I won't let my friends down now!" Tourmaline shouted.

The gems turned back to Tourmaline and then he shouted into the air. His gems glowed a bright green and his entire lower legs were enveloped by light. The light then dissipated and revealed a set of dark green armored leggings, along with his usual grieves edge. He turned around and faced the group.

"Tourmaline?" Ruby said sheepishly.

Ignoring her, Tourmaline leapt in front of the group, getting between them and the corrupted Emerald.

"You!" Emerald screamed.

"So you're the one who has sapped me and my dad's power to abuse my friends." Tourmaline said sternly.

Emerald merely growled at Tourmaline.

"I felt every blow you gave them, I heard every plea they gave to bring me back, and now I'm going to make you PAY!" Tourmaline shouted.

Green bolts of electricity sprung from Tourmaline's new weapon, the green lines carving holes along the beach and plateau walls. The other gems stared in awe as the green bolts danced around Tourmaline. Emerald stared at the young gem in fear, afraid of the wrathful gem. Tourmaline began to walk towards Emerald, his gaze piercing through Emerald. Emerald stepped back, shuddering in fear. But he shook himself out of it and rushed towards Tourmaline, yelling as loud as he could.

"We will become whole again!" Emerald screamed.

Emerald tried to punch him with all of his arms, but before his hits could connect, Tourmaline dodged to the side. Emerald's fists slammed into the ground and he turned to see Tourmaline. Tourmaline raised a leg up and delivered an ax kick to his arms, severing them. Emerald stepped back, screaming in pain as his stumps spurted green blood.

"That was for Steven and Topaz." Tourmaline said.

Tourmaline then punched Emerald in the stomach, ripping a hole in him. He pulled his arm back and Emerald gripped his torn stomach.

"That was for Sapphire." Tourmaline said.

He then grabbed one of Emerald's remaining arms and tore it off.

"This is for Tanzanite!" Tourmaline shouted as he tore it off.

Tourmaline then kneed Emerald in the jaw, sending him flying.

"This is for Tanza!" Tourmaline shouted as he hit him.

Tourmaline then rushed to Emerald's side and began to pummel him as he flew through the air.

"This is for Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl!" Tourmaline shouted.

Emerald bounced off the ground and into the shallow end of the waves. He did his best to stand up but Tourmaline jumped onto his back, slamming him into the ground and creating a massive imprint in the beach.

"This is for Ruby!" Tourmaline shouted.

Emerald screamed in pain, taking the constant abuse from Tourmaline. Tourmaline then stepped off of Emerald and threw him out of the hole and onto the beach once more. Tourmaline jumped into the air and twirled mid air , facing Emerald and the ocean. Emerald shakily stood up, staring up at Tourmaline with swollen, bloody eyes.

"You...long to be complete. You know...you need me." Emerald uttered.

"No...I need my friends. And you tried to take them away from me." Tourmaline stated, "Which brings us to my final punishment to you.".

Tourmaline's grieves began to glow a bright green, static electricity bursting from them.

"This is for keeping me away from my family." Tourmaline said calmly.

Tourmaline slowly moved one of his legs back, readying another kick. Within the blink of an eye, Tourmaline swung his leg forward, releasing a massive wave of energy. The wave roared across the beach towards Emerald, completely enveloping him. The wave expanded to great heights, to the size of a house. Emerald screamed in agony and then was suddenly silent. The wave had completely disintegrated him. With that, the wave burst into a sea of green sparkles. They spread apart and floated in the air in an amazing spectrum of all shades of twinkling green. Tourmaline turned around to see his friends, staring at him in awe, with Steven and Taz's jaws slack in amazement. He slowly walked back towards them. He faced his friends and stared down at Ruby. His serious expression faded into a warm smile. Ruby teared up and latched onto Tourmaline, followed by everyone else.

"Thanks for not giving up on me." Tourmaline said.

"Tourmaline...we-" Ruby started.

"Shhh...I heard everything when you tried to sway Emerald's heart. Everything." He said as he turned to Tanza.

Tanza let go of Tourmaline and started to blush. The others let Tourmaline go and Tourmaline walked over to her.

"So...you love me?" Tourmaline said.

"I...yes...yes I do." Tanza admitted.

"Good."

Tourmaline pulled Tanza down and kissed her. Tanza's eyes went wide at the sudden kiss. Tourmaline let her go and looked into her eyes.

"Cause I love you too." Tourmaline confessed.

Tanza started to tear up and kissed Tourmaline. The others walked over to him and the two let go of each other. Tourmaline looked down at Steven and Taz and crouched down in front of them. He patted both of their heads and smiled.

"You two have done quite a lot for me. I'm proud of both of you." He said.

"Thanks Tourmaline. But you should thank Lion! If it weren't for him I would've never guessed to look around in that jerk's chest!" Steven admitted.

"You thought Lion wanted you to sway Emerald's heart." Tourmaline said deadpan.

"I really wish he wasn't the strong silent type." Steven admitted.

Tourmaline stood up and saw lion walk towards him.

"Haven't seen you in a while. But looks like you came back just in time. Thanks for your help Lion." Tourmaline thanked.

Lion just put his paw on Tourmaline's chest and Tourmaline pat Lion's head. Tourmaline then turned to his other friends and grabbed them all in a group hug.

"You guys are the best." Tourmaline said.

"You did the same for me." Tanzanite said cheerfully.

"And there's no way I'd let my partner die like that." Sapphire added.

Tourmaline let the two of them go and walked over to the crystal gems. He smiled at them and they smiled back.

"Tell me something. Was my dad this big of a pain for you to look after?" Tourmaline asked.

"Nope. We were the pains and he was the one looking after us." Garnet admitted.

Tourmaline chuckled and turned to Amethyst.

"Sorry to say, but I don't think we can do that "leg lock" thing anymore." Tourmaline said.

"That's okay, just stop talking about it!" Amethyst ordered.

"So what happened to you? What's up with your weapon?" Pearl asked.

"I don't know, I just heard my father's voice, felt something flow through me, and then I woke up and destroyed Emerald. I guess we're finally whole." Tourmaline said.

"And you're not a power-mad jerk either." Amethyst said.

"Enough talk. You all must be exhausted, let's go back." Tourmaline suggested.

The others nodded and they all walked back into the house. Tourmaline opened the door and saw the damage.

"Should we clean up?" Tourmaline asked.

"Nah, leave it for now." Amethyst said.

"Alright." Tourmaline said.

He walked upstairs with the gems and to Steven's bed. Steven was the first to crawl in, followed by Taz. The crystal trio collapsed onto the bed and then the rest of the gems followed them. Tourmaline squeezed between Tanza and Amethyst. Ruby squeezed in and laid on top of him. He wrapped his arms around Ruby and Tanza and closed his eyes. Lion walked over and laid down next to the bed and fell asleep. The night sky sparkled as the green lights danced with the stars, and the gems lulled themselves to sleep.

Tourmaline was laying on a bright beach. He sat up and looked around. To his left was nothing but pinkish white sand and there was more of that to his right. He looked behind him to see a pink field of tall grass. He looked ahead at the crystal blue sea, and saw two figures standing in the water. One was very tall and bulky, and the other was skinny and a bit smaller than the other one. Tourmaline realized that they were his parents, Jade and Aquamarine. The two smiled at him and waved as the waves swallowed them up. Tourmaline wanted to rush in and save them, but he knew that they were going to be a part of him forever, and no force will take that away from him. He simply smiled and waved back, and then his parents were gone. Tourmaline fell back and let the waves wash around him, and then he turned to see his friends, all waiting for him. He got up and rushed towards them, eager to go on a new adventure. And then he woke up.

Tourmaline sat up in bed, and looked to his sides. He was completely alone in the bedroom. He stepped out of bed and down the stairs. Garnet and Tanza were on the roof, patching up the hole while Pearl and Sapphire were working on the hole in the floor. Steven and Taz were playing checkers while Amethyst and Tanzanite were relaxing on the couch. Amethyst was the first to notice Tourmaline coming down the stairs.

"Here comes the problem child!" Amethyst shouted jokingly.

The others turned towards Tourmaline with smiles. Steven and Taz abandoned their game to go meet with Tourmaline. He pat the kids heads and sat down on the couch next to Amethyst.

"So what's the plan big guy?" Amethyst asked.

"No plan. I'm just gonna chill here for now." Tourmaline said.

"Sounds good to me. You've put us through enough crazy for a bit." Amethyst said.

"Amethyst you know that you're going to have to go on missions just like the rest of us." Pearl ordered.

"No rest for the wicked eh?" Tourmaline joked.

"Yeah, yeah." Amethyst groaned.

Garnet and Tanza walked in through the front door. The two smiled at Tourmaline, and Tanza walked over and sat next to him. Tourmaline smiled back and wrapped an arm around her. She nuzzled her head against his and the two relaxed together. Taz rolled her eyes and turned back to Steven.

"Whatever. Love is weird right Steven?" Taz said jealously.

"Actually I have a...girlfriend I think?" Steven said.

Taz gasped.

"What, you too? Why can't I have love!?" Taz spat.

"You do have love. You got your friends!" Steven beamed.

"I mean something different. The type of love you have for your girlfriend." Taz explained.

"You want a girlfriend?" Steven asked.

"No...I mean yes! I mean...forget it!" Taz said flustered.

Taz stormed off, leaving Steven confused. Steven shook it off and turned back to Tourmaline.

"Say Tourmaline? How strong are you now? I mean you had to have gotten some sort of power upgrade or something." Steven asked.

"Hmm, that's a good question." Tourmaline stated as he got up, "Hey Garnet, can I borrow you real quick?".

"Yes?" Garnet asked.

"Could you help me with a strength test?" Tourmaline requested.

"Oh no you don't! No more sparring with Garnet!" Pearl scolded.

"Oh come on Pearl, that thing only happened because of my dad's busted gem. I'm all good now so there's no need to worry. Besides, it doesn't even involve a sparring match." Tourmaline explained.

"Well what do you want me to do?" Garnet asked.

Tourmaline summoned his new weapon and looked Garnet.

"We'll settle this with one hit. I want you to punch me, as hard as you can." Tourmaline said sternly.

Garnet's smile faded into a stern look and she summoned her gauntlets. She walked over to Tourmaline and assumed a fighting pose, readying her punch. Tourmaline prepared his kick and the two of them stared at each other in their own standoff. The others stared in anticipation, waiting the attack. Suddenly, Garnet flung her fist forward and Tourmaline threw his kick right at her fist. The two attacks collided and the force rocked the entire house. The other gems trembled as the shock wave overtook them. The gems stared at the two figures, completely static.

"You sure that was the strongest punch you could throw?" Tourmaline asked.

"All my punches are the hardest I can throw." Garnet replied.

Tourmaline smirked and lowered his leg. Garnet moved back and looked at the young gem.

"Yep. I got stronger. If that was me before this change, my leg would've gotten crushed." Tourmaline admitted.

"Woah." Steven replied.

"Yeah, woah." Tourmaline repeated, "Still sticking with the title of second strongest though. I doubt the fight between me and Garnet would ever end.".

"Heh, you think so?" Garnet said.

"Yep. I gave you my hardest kick and it was a completely even force." Tourmaline explained.

"Well alright then problem child." Garnet said as she tousled his hair.

"I don't like how that's becoming my nickname." Tourmaline stated.

"We'll just stick with Tourmy then." Sapphire said.

Tourmaline sighed.

"Alright then." He surrendered.

Tourmaline shrugged as he walked out to the patio. Ruby followed him out to see him leaning on one of the now repaired railings, looking out at the sea. She walked up beside him and looked at his face.

"You alright?" Ruby asked.

"Perfectly fine." Tourmaline said.

"So...you love Tanza huh?" Ruby said.

"Yep." Tourmaline said.

"Oh, okay." Ruby said.

"Hmm?"

"It's nothing. I just didn't expect you to fall in love with her." Ruby said.

"She just has this certain thing that makes me attracted to her." Tourmaline explained.

"You don't have to justify your feelings." Ruby said.

"There are many different feelings I have for people, like the ones I have for you." Tourmaline said.

Ruby blushed.

"Excuse me?" Ruby said.

"I view you as a savior. You took me out of a horrid world and showed me an all new, beautiful one. You're the closest thing I have to a sister and I can't thank you enough for that." Tourmaline said.

"I...thank you Tourmaline." Ruby said.

Tourmaline pat her head and smiled.

"I'm gonna go back inside and help with the repairs. You coming back in?" Ruby asked.

"In a minute." Tourmaline replied.

"Okay."

Ruby walked inside and Tourmaline turned back to the sea. The sun shined brightly on the crystal blue sea. It sparkled like the night sky, twinkling a myriad of beautiful colors. Tourmaline smiled as he saw the outline of his parents on the waves.

"I'm okay now Mom, Dad. I have everything that I'll ever need right here." Tourmaline said to himself.


	15. Chapter 15: Tourmaline's Day Off

Chapter 15: Tourmaline's Day Off

The sun shined brightly over Beach City. Not a single cloud in the sky to obscure the beautiful shade of light blue. Tourmaline once again was lying on the roof of the crystal gem's house, staring up at the giant statue's face. He stretched out and sat up, staring at the sparkling sea. He heaved a happy sigh and jumped down to the patio, then turning to the front door. He entered the house to see all the gems gathered around the warp panel. He rushed over and Ruby and Pearl turned to see him.

"Hey what's going on?" Tourmaline asked.

"We have a little job to take care of. There's some form of force obscuring various electrical wavelengths." Pearl answered.

"In other words…?" Tourmaline asked, confused.

"Something's messing with TV, internet, and radio." Garnet stated.

"There's a new show coming on tonight and Connie is supposed to be here tonight! We gotta stop it or else our meet up will be ruined!" Steven exclaimed.

"You mean your date?" Tourmaline asked.

"Maybe." Steven huffed.

"I don't get why we're doing this, didn't we take care of the things causing this a while back?" Amethyst asked.

"It's obviously something else causing this. The previous pillars only messed with TV, not all wavelengths in general." Garnet said.

"Sounds good, let's get this done." Tourmaline said.

The gems exchanged uncomfortable looks and looked back at Tourmaline.

"What?" Tourmaline asked.

"Well, we were thinking you could use a break." Sapphire said.

"Huh?" Tourmaline uttered.

"You've been through a lot lately and we think it would be best if you just relax and take a day off." Tanza added.

"You turned into a monster and then a giant fusion jerkface. You could probably use some downtime." Taz said.

"I hope you understand." Tanzanite said.

"Well I doubt I have a choice in the matter. But you better watch after Tanza, I don't want her to get hurt again." Tourmaline demanded.

"That I can promise." Garnet stated, "Now enjoy your day off.".

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Tourmaline asked.

"Go into town, check out the big donut and meet some new people! Have fun!" Steven suggested.

"Alright then." Tourmaline said.

"Okay." Ruby said.

The gems stepped onto the warp pad and waved bye to Tourmaline. A bright light beamed from the pad and sent them away on their way to their mission. Tourmaline watched the light glow and fade out, taking the gems with it. He sighed to himself and walked over to the front door. He opened the door and moved onto the patio. He looked over to the city, wondering what he should do. He noticed a building with a giant donut on top of it, and knew where he was gonna go first.

Sadie was sitting at the counter, leaning onto it bored out of her mind as Lars leaned back in his own chair. It had been a slow day, but at least Lars didn't try to come up with some excuse to bail, and it was alright talking to him for a bit, but that still didn't excuse how dull it had been around the shop. Even Steven was no where to be seen. But before Sadie could let her lethargy take over her, she saw someone enter the store. Lars remained in his slouched position as the stranger walked towards the counter. Sadie sat up and greeted the stranger.

"Hello sir." She said.

"Uhh, hey." He said as he looked around the store.

"Is there anything we…" Sadie said, looking at the still snoozing Lars and sighed, "...anything I can do for you?".

"My friend Steven said this was an alright place to go to. So is there anything else to this place other than food?" The stranger asked.

"You know Steven?" Sadie asked curiously.

"Snnar...whu?" Lars groggily uttered.

"I'm relaxing while the other gems are on a mission. Leader's orders. So, is there anything to do?" The stranger asked.

"Not really. Steven usually comes here to grab some food and chat with us. Sorry to disappoint Mr…." Sadie explained.

"Tourmaline." Tourmaline stated.

Lars yawned and sat up.

"What's going on now, customer?"

"Sort of. A friend of Steven's came in looking for a place to enjoy his day off." Sadie explained.

"Well you've come to the wrong place. It's so booorring here!" Lars complained, "What I wouldn't give for a day off now.".

"Sorry to hear that." Tourmaline said.

"Whatever, is there anything you want now that you know the horrible truth behind this place? Or are ya gonna leave us now?" Lars asked.

"I'll grab a drink and chill here for a bit I guess. Nothing else I really know to do around here." Tourmaline concluded.

"Your choice man." Lars said as he rested his head on the counter.

Tourmaline walked over to one of the coolers and pulled out a bottle of lemonade. He walked back to the counter and Sadie rang him up. He pulled out his debit card and paid for beverage and moved towards one of the tables by the window. He took a seat, looked out at the sea and sipped his drink. It was quiet for a few minutes until the door opened again. Three teenagers, two boys and a girl walked in. Tourmaline shot a glance at the three youths, and then went back to looking out at the sea. Lars looked up and a new sense of happiness went through him. He saw his friends Jenny, Buck and Sour Cream walking towards him. Sour Cream went over to one of the coolers to grab some drinks while the others walked up the counter.

"Hey Lars, how's it going?" Jenny asked.

"Oh you know, doing my best to keep myself busy." He said nervously.

"Looks like your boss ain't giving you enough to do." Buck commented.

"Eh, better than the other days." Lars retorted.

"Well since you're bored out of your skull here, wanna go cruise town? You can bring your girlfriend." Jenny teased.

Sadie sat up in shock as Lars nearly fell out of his seat.

"We aren't dating!" Lars shouted.

"Besides, we're stuck here. No one else can fill in and we have till the end of the night." Sadie added.

"Who else works here?" Sour Cream asked as he brought up a three cans of soda.

"No one." Lars and Sadie said in unison.

"Aw man that's lame. We could use a guy or two to come with. Makes it a little more fun." Buck said.

"Yeah but that's the breaks. Wish we could come but we're stuck here." Sadie said, "But if you wanted to take someone, that guy has nothing to do.".

Sadie pointed to at Tourmaline, who was still ignoring the rest of them. Jenny grinned as she looked at the handsome man, and Bucky and Sour Cream looked at him with curiosity.

"How could I have missed someone like that?" Jenny said playfully.

"Apparently he's one of Steven's friends" Sadie said.

"Little Steven? He's gotta be a cool dude." Buck said.

"Yeah I can see him hanging with Steven." Sour Cream said as he handed money over to Sadie.

"What makes you see that?" Buck asked.

"I dunno. Just a guess." Sour Cream responded, "What do you think Jenny?".

The guys looked over to Jenny, only to see a blank space. They turned over to Tourmaline, to see her sitting in front of Tourmaline.

"Hey." Jenny greeted.

Tourmaline looked over to see a young, African girl looking directly at him. He placed his drink and turned over to face her.

"Hi." He greeted back.

"So I heard that you're a friend of Steven's, and that's pretty cool." Jenny said.

Tourmaline looked over to the counter at Lars and Sadie.

"I guess this place isn't known for privacy of information." Tourmaline grumbled.

"Oh sorry man. I meant to say that you look cool in general. You got this thing about you." Jenny went on.

"Are you hitting on me?" Tourmaline asked.

"Wha-No! What the heck are you talking about!?" Jenny responded.

"Sorry, guess I'm still a little new when it comes to this flirting thing." Tourmaline said.

"Well you're not flirting yet man, for now we're talking." Buck said.

Tourmaline looked over to see Buck looking over his shoulder, with Sour Cream standing next to him with a bag of sodas.

"Oh I'm sorry, you must be her boyfriend." Tourmaline said.

"Uhh, no. Good guess though." Buck replied, "Just friends."

"I am awful at guessing these things." Tourmaline said.

"It's alright man, we all have our weaknesses." Buck comforted.

"We also heard you had nothing to do. So you wanna come with us? We were just going to cruise around town." Sour Cream offered.

"Anywhere specific?" Tourmaline asked.

"Nope. Just a few stores and that's it." Buck answered.

"...Can I drive?" Tourmaline asked.

"No. My car, I drive." Jenny stated.

"Can I ride shotgun?"

"Also no." Sour Cream added.

"I'll take what I can get." Tourmaline said as he got up, "Let's go.".

The group cruised through the street, Jenny in the driver's seat as the wind flowed through their hair. Sour Cream is sitting in the passenger seat, searching through the radio for some good music and Tourmaline and Buck relaxing in the backseat. Tourmaline was staring at the sea and Buck was looking at all the people they were passing on the sidewalk. Buck looked ahead to see a group of people gathering around to view a man in a suit with a comb over haircut speaking to them over a megaphone.

"Aw man." Buck said to himself, "Guy can never take a break.".

"Wanna stop and say hi or keep going?" Jenny asked.

"Let's just go." Buck requested.

"Who is that?" Tourmaline asked.

"My dad, aka the mayor." Buck responded.

Tourmaline looked at the major with mild interest and then turned back to Buck.

"He usually like that?" Tourmaline asked.

"Working? Yes." Buck answered.

"At least you can see him around town when he works." Sour Cream said.

"Both of ya'll can count yourselves lucky. At least your dads aren't like mine. Always on my butt and being an uptight control freak." Jenny said, "How about you Tourmaline, how's your dad?".

"I don't have a dad. Or a mom." Tourmaline said bluntly.

Buck and Sour Cream stared at Tourmaline's blank expression with extreme discomfort. Jenny did her best to focus on the road, trying to figure out a way to get rid of the awkward situation. There was a long awkward silence between the group, the only sound was the trance music that Sour Cream stopped on. Jenny looked over to see a clothing store.

"Uhhh, hey you guys wanna check that place out?" Jenny asked.

"Sure." Buck responded.

Jenny pulled out of her lane and up to the curb. The teens and Tourmaline got out and walked in. Buck and Sour Cream walked in first and Jenny walked next to Tourmaline.

"Sorry I brought that up." Jenny said.

"Whatever. It's been like that all my life. I'm used to it." Tourmaline responded.

Jenny was quiet as Tourmaline opened the door for her, letting out a cool breeze and the sound of classic rock. She walked in and Tourmaline followed. Buck and Sour Cream were looking at T-shirts and Jenny went to her own section. Tourmaline leaned against the doorway and looked at the others. Sour Cream looked up from the display rack and towards Tourmaline.

"You gonna look at this stuff too?" Sour Cream asked.

"I never needed other clothes." Tourmaline responded.

"Well you don't need other clothes man, you want them because they look good!" Jenny explained, "Come check some stuff out. We'll let you know what's cool or not.".

Jenny walked over and dragged Tourmaline over by the hand. She brought him over to where Sour Cream was and released him from her grasp. Tourmaline looked over the display of various T-shirts, each labeled with some pop culture reference or band. He was confused as to which ones he wanted to pick out, barely knowing of anything on these shirts. Eventually he decided to just go with the one's he found the most appealing and grabbed a few from the rack.

"Alright, now go change into em and we'll tell ya if you look good." Jenny ordered.

Tourmaline shrugged and began to take his shirt off, exposing his ripped torso. Jenny blushed and Buck and Sour Cream stared in awe.

"Go to the changing room first man!" Jenny shouted.

Tourmaline slipped his shirt back on and walked over to the changing room. Jenny put her hand on her head and did her best to shake off what she saw.

Tourmaline took his shirt off and tried on the first shirt. He looked at the white shirt to see the true logo. It was a cowboy riding a large shark with the words "Pearl Jam" in big bold letters. The grey shirt slightly clung to his figure, most likely due to him grabbing the wrong size, but it somehow worked here. He stripped it off and then he grabbed the next shirt, a black tank top with a reptile like monster on the front. It fit like his other tank top, so it felt familiar and nice. Lastly, he put on black shirt picturing a man getting punched in the face with the word "Pantera" written in large red letters. He turned to look at his back and saw the words "Stronger Than All" written on the back. He liked the logo and decided that he'll take the three shirts. He put his usual tank top back on and walked out with the other three shirts.

"I think I'll take these." Tourmaline said.

"Okay then, mind if we see?" Buck asked.

Tourmaline handed the shirts over and the teens checked them out. Buck was looking at the Pearl Jam shirt, Sour Cream was looking at the tank top, and Jenny was looking at the Pantera shirt. Each inspected the shirts and handed them back to him.

"Very cool man." Buck said.

"You have some nice taste." Sour Cream said.

"Interesting taste in music." Jenny commented.

"Never heard of these bands, the shirts just look good." Tourmaline said as he walked to the counter.

"Wait what? You never heard of those bands?" Sour cream asked.

"I haven't listened to music in years, or at least pay attention to it." Tourmaline explained.

"That's messed up." Buck stated.

"Well I know what we're doing now. Get your clothes and get in the car, we're heading to the record shop." Jenny stated.

"Alright then." Tourmaline said as the cashier rang up his shirts.

The teen's drove further down the street and to Beach City's resident record store. They got out of the car, with Tourmaline following behind and walked inside. Hip hop was playing in the store and there were aisles dedicated to various genre's of music.

"Alright, you go to the rock section and check out a few CD's featuring the bands on your shirts. The section is over there, get to it." Jenny ordered.

"Okay." Tourmaline said as he walked off.

Buck and Sour Cream walked over to the techno section while Jenny moved to hang out with them. Tourmaline scanned the CD sections, reading off various band names until he made it to the section featuring Pantera. He grabbed a CD that looked just like his shirt. Wondering what to do with it, he examined the CD, looking at it at every single angle.

"_How do these things work?"_ He thought to himself.

He looked over to see a station with a scanner saying that he could listen to music using it. Tourmaline walked over and followed the instructions to use it. He grabbed the headphones and placed them over his ears. He saw the track list open and he tapped on the option to play the song "Walk". He heard a loud guitar riff and drums enter the song. Then he heard the harsh singing from the enraged vocalist. Tourmaline was stunned by the primal anger displayed by the song. He looked back at the CD.

"_Human music is fascinating."_ He thought to himself.

He moved to find the Pearl Jam CD's while the teens were jamming to some techno Sour Cream had selected. Suddenly, Jenny's cell phone started to ring. She pulled out her phone and answered it to find that it's her dad. The two talked for a while until she hung up and turned back to the group.

"Bad news. Dad needs me back at the shop." Jenny said.

"Didn't you have the day off today?" Buck asked.

"Had. Things are heating up and Kiki needs a hand, so I gotta bounce." Jenny explained.

"Think you can give us a ride back real quick?" Sour Cream asked.

"Yeah. Hey Tourmaline! We're gonna head out, you need a ride back to your home?" Jenny offered.

"Nah, I think I'm gonna hang out here for a bit." Tourmaline said.

"Your choice. See ya around!" Jenny said as she went out the door.

"See you man." Buck said.

"Later." Sour Cream finished.

The teens exited the store and Tourmaline turned back to the CD's, eager to learn more about the music he has ignored for decades.

Hours had passed as Tourmaline looked over each and every band from the rock and metal section. He had a large stack of CD's next to him as he looked through the last of the bands. The store clerk walked over to Tourmaline and tapped his shoulder. Tourmaline looked over to her with a mild expression.

"Uhh sir, are you done searching? Because I have to close in a few minutes." She said.

"Oh alright, yeah I'm ready to check out." Tourmaline said.

"Okay I'll let you select what you want to leave behind and I'll-"

"No, I'm buying them all." Tourmaline stated.

The clerk stared at him with a surprised expression. Tourmaline lifted the large stack of CDs and moved with her to the counter. She scanned every individual CD and Tourmaline handed over his debit card. She bagged them all and before she checked him out, she asked him one question.

"Would you like a CD player and some headphones with this? I'm guessing you're starting your collection today." The clerk asked.

"...Can't believe I didn't think about that. Yes please." Tourmaline requested.

"Portable or a station?"

"Portable I guess."

The clerk rang up a CD player and a set of headphones.

"I'll throw in a few battery packs, considering how much you're buying off of me." She added.

"Thanks."

"Alright that's-".

"I don't care how much it is, it's a drop in the bucket for me." Tourmaline said.

He handed her his debit card and the rang him up. Tourmaline grabbed his card back and the bags of CD's and walked out the door.

"Uhh, have a good day." She said, flabbergasted.

The sky was a orangish pink as the sun began to set on the town. Tourmaline walked across the street and to the beach. He moved along the sidewalk on his way back home, looking out at the sea every now and then. Eventually he made it back to his home, still empty.

"_Guess that mission's giving em a bit of an issue. Should've gone with em anyway." _He thought to himself.

He put the bags of CD's down near the couch and walked up to Steven's room. He looked over his toys and games, curious of what the little kid does in his spare time. Tourmaline flopped onto the bed he hung over the bed and then heard a scratching sound at the door. Tourmaline sprang to his feet, summoning his new grieves. He leapt down in front of the door to see Lion, sitting on the other side of the screen door with one paw on the door. Tourmaline eased up and opened the door for the pink feline. Lion walked into the house and started up the stairs.

"Oh hey Lion, what're you up to?" Tourmaline asked.

Tourmaline followed Lion up to Steven's room, with him lying on the bed and relaxing. Tourmaline sat next to him and scratched Lion's mane. Lion looked over at Tourmaline and Tourmaline gave him a small smile.

"At least I have you to keep me company. Wish the others were here though." He said as he fell down against Lion's stomach, "It's been weeks since we've actually done something together, and now that I'm actually normal again, they're out there fighting some monsters and solving some mystery, without me. Do they not trust me anymore?" Tourmaline said.

Lion stared blankly at him and Tourmaline frowned.

"I know you're smart enough to understand me Lion. Blink once for yes and twice for no." Tourmaline demanded.

Lion blinked twice and Tourmaline's frown turned back into a smile. Lion rolled over and Tourmaline sat up.

"Thanks for the talk Lion." Tourmaline said.

Tourmaline got up and walked down to the bags of CD's. He grabbed the two bags and moved towards the temple door. His gems glowed and the door split in half, allowing Tourmaline access. He walked into a rocky tunnel, the walls still covered with scars from his violent transformation. He stopped in front of the doorway to his room, viewing all the scratches and slash marks. He heaved a sigh and walked into his room.

"_That isn't you anymore._" He reminded himself.

He placed the bags on the floor and started stacking the CD's. He sorted them alphabetically and placed the stacks on the floor. He moved the CD player next to the stacks and walked out of the room. Tourmaline was about to head back out, but he decided to explore the temple. He walked up the various tunnels until he noticed a red glow coming from another tunnel. Out of curiosity, Tourmaline rushed into the tunnel and found himself in a large chamber. In the middle of it was a large, red, crystalline heart, with it's veins and pumps strew across the ceiling. Tourmaline gazed up at the massive thing and walked up to it. He jumped onto the large thing and gazed into it. He touched the heart with his hand and he felt a surge of energy rush into his arm. He jerked his arm back and leapt back away from the giant thing. He slowly stepped back as he watched the giant thing and then ran out of the chamber.

"_The hell was that!?_" He thought to himself.

Tourmaline barreled into the house, catching his breath as he looked back at the door. Lion jumped down from Steven's bed and over to Tourmaline. Tourmaline shook his head and leaned against the breakfast bar, with Lion following him. Tourmaline pet Lion and then the house was lit up by the warp panel. A bright light shined from the panel, reaching up to the ceiling. The light dissipated and it revealed his friends, with Amethyst holding a strange, neon sphere. Tourmaline smiled and walked up with Lion. Ruby, Tanza and Taz walked up to him first with the others following.

"Finally you guys get back! What took you so long?" Tourmaline asked.

"Turns out it was a swarm of giant scorpiflys that were messing with the wavelengths. Something about the vibrations of their wings." Ruby explained.

"Took us all day hunting everyone of them down and destroying their hives." Garnet added.

"But we found this cool ball thing in one of them! You can have it if you want." Amethyst offered.

Tourmaline reached to get the sphere, only for Amethyst to yank it away from him.

"Psyche. I find it, I keep it." Amethyst joked.

Tourmaline laughed to himself and Steven walked up to him.

"So what'd you do today Tourmaline?" Steven asked.

"Went to that donut shop first. Then met these teens, Buck, Jenny and Sour cream. Went with them to get some clothes and then I discovered some cool music. Spent the whole day there and then I came back here." Tourmaline told.

"Oh cool! Can we see what you got?" Taz requested.

"Sure, only if you promise me this…" Tourmaline started.

The other gems listened.

"...Take me on the next mission you guys are going on. I should be going with you, especially with my power up." Tourmaline finished.

"Fine." Garnet said bluntly.

"I...well that was easy." Tourmaline said dumbfounded.

"So what music did you get? I'd imagine you gathered some of the human's most sophisticated classics to start your discovery of music." Pearl inquired.

"I only sifted through one of their main genres, but I believe I've found a lot of their classics. Let me just go grab my CD player and-"

"Wait I have a radio! You can play em on it instead." Steven suggested, "I'll go get it and you can get some of your CD's.".

Steven rushed to go find his radio and Tourmaline ran into the temple to grab his music. Taz and Tanza went to go sit on the couch, with Taz cuddling against her friend. Tanzanite and Sapphire moved to the kitchen to make dinner for Steven, Taz and Amethyst. Ruby sat down next to Tanza, and the crystal trio joined them.

"You sure about Tourmaline?" Pearl asked.

"He's acting normally and it would be in our interest to gauge how much stronger he's gotten." Garnet stated.

"We did. He's almost as strong as you are G." Amethyst said.

"Well there could be more to his power, he just hasn't used it much." Garnet added.

"There's no chance of him doing something insane again. So don't be a worrywart." Tanza said.

"I am not a worrywart!" Pearl shouted.

"*cough* liar *cough*" Amethyst coughed.

"Excuse me!?" She said as she turned to Amethyst.

"Enough." Garnet said.

"But she said-" Pearl started.

"That's no reason to act up like this." Garnet interrupted, "The same way there's no reason to tease Pearl.".

Tanza and Amethyst turned away and Steven came rushing down the stairs with his radio. He placed it in front of the gems and started looking for an outlet.

"Steven, here." Garnet said as she held out her hand.

Steven handed her the cord and Garnet squeezed tightly on the plug. A white light shined from her hand as the sound of static came on and then the radio turned on. Steven turned to Garnet and gave her a big smile.

"Thanks Garnet!" Steven beamed.

Garnet smiled and Steven turned to the temple door. The door split open, revealing Tourmaline with a stack of CD's. He walked over to the group and placed them down by the radio.

"Is that all you got?" Ruby asked.

"I have more, but they have this parental advisory sticker on them. They probably mean that they can't be heard by small kids so I left em in my room." Tourmaline explained.

Pearl gave a satisfied nod as Tourmaline took the first CD out of it's album. Amethyst picked up the album to look at the front. It showed a massive white whale breaching from a churning sea, with a ship in the background, nearly capsizing in it's might. Amethyst chuckled and showed the album to Pearl.

"Hey, doesn't this remind you of that one time we went to sea looking for that weird underwater city centuries ago?" Amethyst asked.

Pearl grabbed the album and Garnet looked over to see it.

"Oh yes! And then we had fight that giant gem whale. Oh good times." Pearl said.

"I also remember you getting stuck in it's blowhole." Garnet said.

Pearl blushed as she looked back to the album, reading the title.

"_Mastodon...Leviathan_?" She read aloud, "Well it must be a rather sophisticated band to have such a nice, artistic cover.".

Tourmaline put the CD into the radio and after a few seconds, the music began to play. It started out with a simple electric guitar leading in and then erupted with harsh vocals and much heavier instrumentals. The gems stared at Tourmaline, surprised by his new taste in music. Tourmaline naively stared back at them.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing it's just...I didn't expect you to have such...harsh taste in music." Pearl stumbled.

"This is harsh? Because some of the other stuff I found makes this look rather tame." Tourmaline responded.

"And I hope you never play them aloud." Pearl said.

"Aw come on Pearl it sounds good." Amethyst said.

"Eh it's a little good." Garnet added, "And it's not even my cup of tea.".

"I guess it's more of an acquired taste. Fine, we'll let the whole album play and then you can move onto the next one. Unless there are any objections?" Pearl pleaded.

"Nah." Amethyst said.

"Nope." Tanza added.

"No." Garnet continued.

"Uh uh." Taz said.

"I'm good with this." Sapphire shouted.

"Same here!" Tanzanite finished.

Pearl turned to Steven, who was scratching his head.

"Well it does sound a little heavy for my tastes, but if you're into it I might as well give it a shot, even if I'm more of a classic rock fan." Steven said.

Pearl scowled and closed her eyes.

"Fine then." Pearl said under her breath.

Tourmaline moved over to the couch and squeezed between Ruby and Tanza. He put an arm around Tanza and smiled, cuddling up with his friends as they listened to rock music for the rest of the night, much to Pearl's dismay.


	16. Chapter 16: Temple Teams

Chapter 16: Temple Teams

**Author's note: The formatting may be a little weird, something up with the copy and paste for this one but everything else is fine. **

A clash of steel clanged throughout the arena in the sky. Tourmaline flipped backwards, with a knife in his hand, away from Pearl to dodge her sword strikes. Pearl lunged forward towards him, thrusting her sword forward in a stabbing motion. Tourmaline moved his head to the side to avoid the strike, using his knife to stop the blade from slicing his shoulder. He headbutt Pearl in the stomach and she bent over, having the wind knocked out of her. Tourmaline tried to punch Pearl's jaw, but Pearl bent backwards, retaliating with a kick to his jaw. Pearl pressed off the ground, twirling mid air with her blade in hand, and landed in a defensive stance. Tourmaline rushed forward, slashing with his knife, only having each strike parried by Pearl. One strike from Pearl slid off of Tourmaline's blade and went towards Tourmaline's body. He moved forward, the slash grazing his abdomen, and swung his knife at Pearl's neck. The blade stopped mere micrometers from Pearl's neck. The two stared at each other, determined, fierce eyes locking as the two went static. Their serious expressions transformed into warms smiles and Tourmaline removed the knife from Pearl's neck. They eased their stances and began to laugh.

"That's four to three Pearl! Looks like I'm the winner." Tourmaline declared.

"You sure about that? I got the first mark." Pearl commented.

"Yeah but I got the killing blow." Tourmaline retorted.

"Fair enough. Alright fine you win the round...best five out of nine?" Pearl asked.

"Sure, just give me a second. Let this thing patch itself up." Tourmaline agreed as he felt his now decreasing wound.

"Accept it Pearl! You lost fair and square!" Amethyst shouted.

"I would've won if we kept it at three out of five!" Pearl shouted back.

"But you didn't. You should've just took what you had and left with it." Tanza stated.

"I only agreed to that because he agreed to go best three out of five!" Pearl added.

"When you wanted a rematch because you lost the two out of three match." Ruby stated.

Steven and Taz giggled as Pearl grew more and more flustered. She let out a frustrated grunt and gave in, realizing that she had no chance in saving face. Tourmaline put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm smile.

"You just had an off day is all. We'll can try again later." Tourmaline bragged.

Pearl smiled at him and then looked at her shoulder. She saw a green splatter on her shoulder, realizing that's the hand he used to touch his wound. She reeled back, screeching in terror as she wiped her shoulder off. Tourmaline laughed and Amethyst guffawed at the sight. The others just stared, merely snickering to themselves. Pearl scowled at Tourmaline, swinging her sword at him as he narrowly dodged each strike. As Tourmaline ran from Pearl, Garnet, Tanzanite and Sapphire jumped into the arena. Garnet stretched an arm out and lifted Pearl by her sash. Pearl stared at Garnet, embarrassed by her outburst. Tourmaline walked over to Garnet along with the others.

"Good to see that you're all having fun." Garnet said.

Amethyst gave Tourmaline a friendly nudge, snickering to him.

"But we have something serious to attend to. We have a cataclysmic emergency." Garnet stated.

Everyone was silent. Garnet put Pearl down and Pearl looked up at her leader.

"The obsidian orb at the magma temple has been damaged." Garnet said.

Pearl gasped, Amethyst frowned, Tanza's expression turned stern and the rest of the group were confused.

"What's that and where's this temple?" Steven asked.

"The magma temple is a gem hub world at the center of the earth, right in the core to be exact. The obsidian orb was used to harness the power of the planet's core to power advanced gem technology. If it's breaks, it could cause a meltdown that could cause the core to react violently!" Pearl explained.

"You mean blow up the earth?" Taz asked.

"Oh no no no no no. We would never make something that could backfire so harshly, that'd be insane! It would probably just cause every volcano on earth to erupt due to the sudden burst of magma being pressed from the explosion of the temple." Pearl answered.

"Not as bad but still pretty disastrous." Sapphire commented.

"The clock is ticking, lets go." Garnet ordered.

"Right!" Steven exclaimed.

"Oh no! You stay here Steven, it's much too dangerous!" Pearl demanded.

"Pearl, you know that you need me. How else are you gonna fix it?" Steven asked.

Pearl groaned loudly.

"Alright you can come, but dress lightly. No doubt it's going to be hot in there." Pearl requested.

Steven ran off to grab his things with a big smile on his face. Garnet turned to the others with her same stern expression.

"Now that that's taken care of, let's go." She repeated.

All the gems rushed to exit the temple, save Tourmaline. Garnet turned back as the others rushed to exit.

"That means you to Tourmaline." Garnet said.

Tourmaline's eyes widened.

"You mean it?" He asked excitedly.

"Yeah you've had a long enough break. Don't want you getting sloppy." She said with a smile.

Tourmaline beamed and rushed as fast as he could to the warp panel. Garnet followed close behind, almost passing the young gem. The two rushed through the temple's tunnels, eventually reaching the exit to the main house. The door opened and the two leaped onto the jump pad, landing in the crowd of other gems. Steven closed the fridge after stuffing some random things into his cheeseburger backpack, and ran to meet everyone on the pad. A light burst from the pad and the team was on it's way to the first adventure they all had together.

The warp panel in the magma temple lit up, barely illuminating the already bright orange temple. The cracks in the walls spread orange and crimson blotches across the temples purple walls, shining brightly on the cracked statues of past gems. One spot on the ceiling sprung a leak, causing the bright orange substance to fall, creating a small puddle of the fiery liquid. Pearl looked around the cracking temple with a worried expression, Garnet and Amethyst stared calmly at their surroundings, and the others examined the ancient place with great curiosity. Steven began to sweat in his tanktop, and a large wet spot began to grow in the corner of his backpack.

"I think your bag sprung a leak Steven." Ruby pointed out.

Steven took his bag off and looked inside, a frustrated expression on his face.

"Aw man! The ice I brought melted! And the bags I packed them in burst!" He complained.

"You think that was gonna last down here?" Sapphire asked.

"I thought we were gonna be hot." Steven said.

"Well if we were gonna get hot then why would the...nevermind." Ruby stammered.

"It's even worse than I thought." Garnet said, "Come on, we haven't got much time." .

Garnet moved forward and the other gems followed her. They passed through a large door with an orb as black as an eclipse housed on the top center part of it. The large door grew narrower and narrower, eventually smushing the top of Garnet's afro. A light shined at the end of the tunnel, and the gems exited the corridor and into a large foyer. In the center of the foyer was a massive well that held a white liquid as bright as the sun. There were four other tunnels in the foyer, each with a different colored orb, being white, red, orange and blue from right to left. On the walls were murals of what appeared to be gems battling a creature shrouded in flames.

"What's up with the walls?" Tourmaline asked.

"These murals depict an ancient battle the gems had centuries ago. A beast known as the supernova thrived on the metal found in the core of planets-" Pearl started.

"There's metal in the core!?" Steven exclaimed.

"Why yes there is. The core is actually composed of iron and nickel, which is responsible for the earth's magnetic field. The reason why it resembles bright magma is because it has been heated to at least five-thousand degrees celsius." Pearl explained.

"Wow." Steven uttered.

"Anyway, since this creature feasted on the hot liquid metal of planets, it ruined their magnetic fields, completely destroying the environment. However, the gems managed to stop it here on Earth before it could do any damage. And it has remained here, imprisoned in a bubble ever since." Pearl finished.

"Why's it called the supernova?" Tanzanite asked.

"Because it could create a flash of light as bright as an exploding star, and it was just as dangerous as one." Pearl said.

"Seriously? That's like if I called you the spear just because you have a spear. How about something fitting it's routine, like "The corerupter"?" Tourmaline suggested.

All the gems just stared at him with disappointed and pained expressions.

"I got it!" Steven exclaimed.

"Anyways, the obsidian orb should be at the very bottom of the temple. Each of these paths lead there, but I forget which one is the fastest way." Garnet admitted.

"Couldn't you just swim down through that vat?" Tanza asked Garnet.

"Too hot, even for me." Garnet said, "That's pure plasma created by the ancient gems.".

"Plasma?" Taz and Steven said confused.

Before Pearl could explain that too, Tourmaline cut her off.

"I can put this in perspective. Plasma is known as the fourth state of matter, having properties unlike solids, liquids and gases. It's a dangerous substance that can cause a lot of damage if unchecked. The hottest plasma the humans have ever created was four trillion degrees Celsius. That's two-hundred and fifty thousand times hotter than the surface of the sun." Tourmaline explained.

"This plasma is about five times hotter." Garnet added.

Garnet took a rock and threw it into the vat, it dissolving the instant it touched the surface. Steven and Taz gasped at the sight.

"Alright, the best course of action now is to split into pairs and rush through whatever corridor you choose." Garnet said.

"I'm going with Tanza." Tourmaline stated as he held her hand.

Taz pouted and got between the two of them.

"And I'm tagging along. Me and Steven are extras anyway." Taz said stubbornly.

"I'll go with Garnet." Steven said.

"I'll come with you." Sapphire requested.

"Ruby and I will pair up." Tanzanite stated.

Pearl and Amethyst awkwardly stared at each other.

"Anyone wanna trade?" Amethyst asked.

"No time. Gems, move out!" Garnet ordered.

Tourmaline, Tanza and Taz rushed to the door with the orange orb, and Ruby and Tanzanite ran to the door with the red. Pearl and Amethyst leapt to the door with the white orb, and Garnet picked Steven and Sapphire up, bounding over the vat of white plasma and into the door with the blue orb.

In the chamber of the orange orb, Tanza, Tourmaline and Taz found themselves at the edge of a large, bowl-like hole making up the room. Across the room there was another hole, presumable leading deeper into the temple. Tourmaline and Tanza scanned the area. It looked too easy. There had to be something in this room, some sort of trigger, that would spell doom for them, but their observations hailed nothing.

"Guess we got lucky with our choice." Taz stated.

"I have to agree." Tanza started, "But to be safe we should leap to the hole over there. Might be a trigger in the bowl.".

"I'll go first." Tourmaline said.

He took a few steps back and the girls moved to the walls. He took one last step, and he felt something sink into the floor. The floor shifted at an angle and caused the gems to slide into the bowl. Tourmaline fell on top of Tanza, and the two blushed as they stared into each other's eyes. Taz used her telekinesis to take Tourmaline off of her mentor, and Taz sat up.

"Great job Tourmy, you found the trigger." Tanza joked.

The two doors slammed shut, shutting out most of the light, save a faint orange glow around the sphere like room. Five hidden chambers opened from the sides of the bowl, each releasing a bright light. Tourmaline and Tanza got back to back, shielding Taz behind them. Out of the holes emerged a lava golem, it's body a spread of hardened molten rock, lava leaking out of the cracks in their bodies, and a bright blue gem housed in their heads. The creatures moaned as they slowly got out of the holes to attack the gems.

"How would you assess these things?" Tanza asked Tourmaline.

"Very slow, heavily armored from the looks of it. Most likely can spread magma. Weak spot the head. Shouldn't be too much of a problem." Tourmaline said.

The golems then began to convulse violently, their low grumbles turning into loud shrieks. Their chest plates cracked the began to melt into puddles of lava. From the cracks bursted a group of flaming worms. They were littered with dark green eyes and what was presumably the front had a large mouth filled with needle-like, crystalline teeth. The golem's lava began to flow to the middle of the arena. The gems leapt away from the lava and towards the wall of the bowl. Tourmaline thrust a fist into the bowl to hold still, as did Tanza, only she was holding Taz in her free hand. A large cluster of the worms writhed in a flaming ball above the shallow pond of lava. One worm rushed towards Tourmaline, but he gripped the monster's by it's slender body before it could reach him, and slammed it's head into the wall, crushing it. The body laid limp for a second before poofing away.

"Well, this should be entertaining." Tourmaline said as he summoned his weapon.

"Hold on tight Taz." Tanza requested.

Taz got onto Tanza's back and Tanza summoned her boots, making the energy skates as well. She released herself from the wall and skated down the bowl. She leapt into the air and kicked one of the worms into the wall. The ball erupted and the worms spread throughout the room, Tourmaline let go of the wall and jumped into the frenzied monsters. He grabbed one by the tail and slammed whipped it into a pair of other worms. Tanza skated over the lava and up to the top of the sphere, jumping off and delivering a kick, slicing through six of the worms. Tourmaline grabbed two worms and slammed them into the wall, their bodies poofing away again.

"How many you got?" He shouted.

"I got seven! You?" Tanza shouted back.

"Five! Guess I gotta get a bit more serious." Tourmaline joked.

Tanza smiled and Tourmaline jumped into the frenzied mass. The gem on his left leg glowed and he swung it in an ark, causing a mass of green energy to envelope the worms. The swarm had been cut in half, and Tourmaline landed against the wall, quickly turning back with smug grin. Tanza jumped up and sliced two in half with a round house.

"That's cheating!" She shouted.

"Points are points sweetie!" He shouted back with a smile.

Four worms thrust themselves at Tanza, but Taz stopped them with her telekinesis, then throwing them against the wall, killing them. Taz looked over her shoulder and smirked at her friend. Tourmaline jumped up and with a spinning side kick, swept five worms onto his leg, then slamming them against a wall. He turned around and unleashed another wave of energy, wiping out the last of the worms. The room was silent, and then a ring of light surrounded the pool of lava. The pool hardened, revealing an elevator pad. The two gems slid down, examining the new pad.

"Think it's a quick way down?" Tourmaline asked.

"We don't have much of a choice but to take it." She stated.

"I could bust us out." Tourmaline suggested.

"Please. This place is falling apart as it is, we don't need you smashing it too." Tanza said.

Tourmaline shrugged and the three stepped onto the pad. It rumbled a little, and it began to go down a clear tube of magical energy. The two looked around to see an endless void of orange and red. The tube cracked slightly, startling Taz. Tourmaline lightly stomped on the elevator.

"_Come on! Go faster!" _He whined in his head.

Tanzanite and Ruby found themselves in a lab of some sorts. There were hollow, floating crystals filled with lava of varying neon colors. It was dark save for the light coming from the crystals. Scrawled on the walls were ancient texts of an undecipherable language. Crates and boxes were stacked on top of each other, holding unknown contents. Tanzanite was about to open one, but Ruby stopped her, thinking it was best to leave them closed. They searched around the room, looking for for an exit or some sort of way down, but to their annoyance, they found nothing.

"Looks like this place is a dead end." Ruby said.

"There might be a switch or something here. I mean it is a lab." Tanzanite suggested.

"Even if there were one, I don't think we should mess with this stuff. Who knows what it could do? We've wasted enough time here, lets try meeting up with the others." Ruby retorted.

"Okay." Tanzanite said.

The two ran out of the lab and back to the main foyer. Ruby looked over to the white door, and decided to meet up with Pearl and Amethyst. Quickly they ran through the door and corridor, only to be cut off by Pearl and Amethyst, exiting the room ahead of them.

"Did you find nothing too?" Pearl asked.

"Just a lab. Nothing useful, at least anything we could understand. You?" Ruby explained.

"All it was was a scenic room for the gem who used to run this place. No way down." Amethyst answered.

"Great, just great! Come on, maybe Tourmaline's group found something!" Ruby shouted as she rushed back.

The newly formed team rushed back to the foyer. This time, there were some new additions. Garnet, Sapphire and Steven were just about to enter the door Tourmaline went through before they were called on by the others.

"Hey Garnet! Guess you had no luck either huh?" Amethyst shouted.

Garnet shook her head.

"We found the cooling room though! Gotta a nice break from the heat." Steven proclaimed.

"That means Tourmaline must have guessed right. Come on, let's go!" Pearl ordered.

The gems rushed through the corridor to the bowl like room. They all slid down the side of it, with Steven accidentally rolling down. Before he fell into the hole in the center Garnet grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up.

"Dude found an elevator. Lucky jerk." Sapphire teased.

"And I'm not waiting for it to come back." Garnet stated as she put Steven on her back.

She then jumped down the hole, with Steven shouting as he clung tightly to his guardian. Amethyst and Ruby were the next to jump, followed by Pearl and Sapphire, with Tanzanite careful hoisting herself down before falling with them. The small cracks in the tube began to grow in size as the magic began to die out. Garnet grit her teeth as she plummeted to what she hoped would be the obsidian orb.

Tourmaline, Tanza and Taz's lift finally exited the tunnel and brought them down to a huge room. Each corner had a vat of bright orange metal, and the walls were adorned of statues of massive gems, each more fierce looking then the last. The gems were staring in awe but one statue caught Tourmaline's attention.

"Hey! Check it out!" Tourmaline said excitedly as he nudged both Tanza and Taz.

The two looked over to see a massive statue of a gem crossing her arms, her massive gauntlets crossed, each encrusted with a star. She had large lips and three eyes, one fastened in the center of her forehead, and a giant square afro on her head. The two gasped as Tourmaline chuckled and rushed over to see it closer. He made it to the base to see an iron place near her abdomen.

"Garnet. The gem who could endure the very core of the planet." He read aloud, "Oh man! Guess we have another reason why Garnet was so worried about this place!".

"Yeah, a past treasure. But we can check it out later, where's the orb?" Tanza asked.

"Is that it over there?" Taz asked as she pointed to another pool.

The two looked over to see a black orb floating above a basin of lava wedged between two symmetrical statues of two gem knights kneeling. Tourmaline rushed over and grabbed the black orb, inspecting it for damage. He looked at it all over, seeing a few red splotches here and there.

"I don't think this thing was damaged. I mean the red spots look weird but it doesn't look unstable." Tourmaline admitted.

"Looks can be deceiving." Tanza said.

Tourmaline began to squeeze the orb with a bit of his strength.

"I don't know. It seems pretty stable to m-"

The orb popped, emitting a puff of black smoke. A clinking noise was heard and everyone stared at the cloud in sheer horror.

"Tourmy...Did you just-" Tanza shakily started.

"No...no way, nuh uh. I barely squeezed it! It can't be broken!" Tourmaline shouted.

"That's it, we're dead!" Taz shouted.

Tourmaline looked down at his hands and saw that they were covered in some sort of black, chalk like substance. He brought one of his hands up to his face and sniffed it. He moved his hand back and he calmed himself down.

"This isn't the orb. I smell soot, so that's why...whatever that thing was was black." Tourmaline explained.

"Then what was it? And where's the orb?" Tanza asked.

"What's that?" Taz pointed at the ground.

They all looked down to see a jet black orb on the ground. Tourmaline reached down to the orb, but then it began to glow a bright red. The orb flew up into the air and suddenly, a form similar to a human began to form from it. The form was complete and the red light dispersed. Falling down came a large, muscular being. It fell between Tourmaline and the girls, kneeling down and catching it's breath. Tanza stared at it and Taz hid behind her. Before she could react, the thing lifted it's head up, revealing it's face. It was that of a female's, though a bit more rugged. Her eyes were like burning coals, burning through Tanza and sending a shiver down her spine. Her lips were a little thick and her head was somewhat big. She stood up and flipped her ebony dreadlocks back, revealing her true height. She was half a head taller than Tanza, and her body was like that of an olympic weightlifter. A bright red tunic only managed to cover her large chest and broad shoulders, leaving her muscular abdominals and black gem exposed. Her thick legs were covered by a pair of jet black shorts that clung tightly to her skin. She groaned and summoned her weapon. From her stomach she pulled a massive hammer. She held the giant thing with one hand, it was as long as she was tall, and the head was bigger than Taz. Then without warning she grabbed the shaft with her other hand and swung it towards Tourmaline. In a mere second, Tourmaline was swept off of his feet and sent flying into the stone wall, it crumbling due to the massive impact. She faced the other two, their horrified expressions staring up at her.

"Why do you look at me with such cowardly eyes?" She said in a deep monotone.

The two stepped back, Tanza's frightened expression turning into a livid scowl as Taz clung tightly to her leg. Suddenly, she heard something fall behind her. Tanza and Taz turned back to see the other gems landing. Garnet looked up and her face turned grim. The others followed and the crystal gems grew worried. The giant black gem's uninterested expression became furious. She hunched over in an offensive stance and tightly gripped her hammer.

"Garnet!" She shouted.

"Obsidian! What are you doing here!?" Garnet asked.

"Your little friends freed me from my prison." She said as she pointed to Tanza and Taz.

"How could you do something so stupid!?" Amethyst yelled.

"It wasn't us! It was Tourmaline!" Taz shouted.

Ruby pinched the brow of her nose "Of course it was.".

"Ah, so your name is Tourmaline." Obsidian said.

"No. I'm Tanzanite, or as I am currently being called Tanza, and this is my friend Taz. You assaulted our friend Tourmaline with that swing!" Tanza shouted.

"Oh I hit him? Thought I just swatted a centibeetle considering how fast that thing flew away. My mistake, I should've thanked him for giving me the pleasure of exacting my revenge." Obsidian gloated.

"If you hurt him I swear to...look, the temple we're in is crumbling. The obsidian orb is damaged and needs to be repaired now!" Garnet shouted.

"Bah! Ridiculous. That orb has been designed to withstand the gravitational force of this planet for eons. I see no damage down here, stop with your games Garnet!" Obsidian shouted.

"Who exactly is she?" Steven asked.

"She's Supernova. We crafted the story so that no one would try to look for her. She's a violent and dangerous gem." Pearl explained.

"Why?" Steven asked.

"Because she thinks she's better than everyone else. So she rebelled to show her "dominance" over all other gems." Amethyst finished.

"We don't have time for this! Step aside and let us see the obsidian orb, or we'll all die!" Garnet shouted.

"Correction, they will die. You and I will still be alive, and then we can settle our score." Obsidian stated.

"Enough of this foolish-"

"Silence! You have left me imprisoned in that bubble for...what year is it?" Obsidian asked.

"Two-thousand and fifteen!" Steven shouted.

"Thank you. Three centuries! You, Pearl, Amethyst and that insufferable Rose! But no more!" Obsidian shouted.

Bright red patterns began to glow on her body and she smashed her hammer into the ground, sending a torrent of flames across the room. The others jumped up into the air while Garnet stood and took the flames. Pearl came back down with Steven, as well as Tanza with Taz. Obsidian lifted her hammer from the newly formed crater in the ground, patches of flames spread throughout the large room. She twirled her hammer, the face facing upwards. Garnet scowled at her as she summoned her gauntlets, with the other's joining in with their weapons. Obsidian growled at the others, preparing herself for a fight. The gems were about to lunge forward when they saw something peculiar. Their fierce expressions turned to ones of modest surprise. Obsidian remained ignorant to the change in their mood, reveling in her blood lust and rage.

"I shall break your bones, tear your flesh and smash your gems into dust! My strength far exceeds any of yours! You all shall burn in a sea of flames hotter than your very own su-"

"Alright we get it, you're tough and intimidating...and a little hot. In multiple meanings of the word." Tourmaline joked.

Obsidian looked to see the source of the mocking voice. She saw a young, long haired gem smiling at her, his legs crossed as he sat on her hammer.

"What the?" She uttered.

She slid her hands to the base of her hammer, extended it outwards, and started to swing it overhead, intent on smashing the arrogant gem. Tourmaline slid off of the hammer's face, twirling around to land facing her. As she smashed her hammer into the ground, Obsidian turned to see him standing in front of her, with an even bigger, cocky grin. She growled and swung her hammer at him, but he merely leaped over the strike, landing in the same spot. She gripped her hammer again and stared down at the gem. She towered over him, nearly twice his size even, so why does he show no fear?

"I take it you must be Tourmaline." Obsidian spat.

"Yep. One hell of a greeting you gave me." Tourmaline laughed.

"My apologies. I just wanted to swing my weapon again after being cooped up for so long. I'll make it up to you later." Obsidian promised, "For now, I have personal matters to attend to.".

"Oh I don't think so. You made this personal when you slammed me into a wall in front of my girlfriend and my kid sister." Tourmaline stated.

"_Kid sister?_" Taz thought to herself.

"Like I said, I'll make it up to you later. You shouldn't be so eager to throw your life away." Obsidian mocked as she walked past Tourmaline.

Tourmaline sighed and summoned his new grieves. He spread his stance wide and inhaled deeply. Quickly, he did a spinning roundhouse kick, making a blindingly fast three-sixty ark and releasing a massive gale of wind. Obsidian stopped in her tracks as she felt the wind's pressure beat against her back, whipping her hair forward. The other gems felt the wind as well, and the fires that ran rampant in the temple grounds had been extinguished by the hurricane. Steven and Taz stared in awe at the marvelous act, but Garnet had a worried expression on her face. Obsidian remained stone faced, facing the gems for a few seconds until turning her attention back to Tourmaline.

"How interesting. Seems that you actually have some talent." Obsidian complimented.

"Smokey always said only I could prevent fires." Tourmaline joked.

"This smokey seems to be a rather wise figure." Obsidian stated bluntly.

"Uh, no you see smokey is this bear mascot that is used to teach kids to not burn the earth's forests to the ground. Seemed appropriate considering how much of a joke you are." Tourmaline spat with a devilish grin.

"You, a mere worm, dare to make a mockery of me!?" Obsidian shouted.

Obsidian raised her hammer high and swung it down on Tourmaline. Garnet leaped in the air to get between the two, but it was too late. Overhead she saw the hammer drop, and a massive pulse of force come forth, followed by a wave of wind. She landed behind Tourmaline to see that he stopped the attack with a kick. The two remained still, Obsidian staring down in surprise at the smaller gem stopping her attack. Tourmaline put his leg down and Obsidian stepped back.

"Garnet, this gem is really annoying. Can I kick her ass?" Tourmaline asked.

"Looks like there's no stopping you, but be careful. She's a powerful foe. It took all of my strength to beat her when I was younger." Garnet said.

"So basically when you were like my age?" Tourmaline asked.

"Thank you for the compliment but I'm much older than that." Garnet said.

"Heh. Hey you guys! Come over here and help Garnet out with the orb! I'd hate for this to end with us getting flooded with magma and junk!" Tourmaline shouted.

The others quickly ran past Obsidian, her focus now on Tourmaline. She grit her teeth in frustration and tightened her grip on her hammer. Her patterns glowed a dark, blood red.

"Foolish young one! You dare oppose me!? Obsidian, the supernova!?" Obsidian screamed.

"Seriously? That's your nickname? Well since we're throwing out titles, Tourmaline, the son of Jade and Aquamarine, will gladly kick your butt today.

Obsidian's eyes widened at this statement. She looked down at Tourmaline with curious and concerned eyes.

"So...the infamous child of Jade is actually alive." She said calmly.

"Infamous? I mean sure the crystal gems knew about me but random people know me by reputation? Not sure if I should be flattered or concerned." Tourmaline said.

"Heh heh, looks like this fight just got a whole new level of interesting. Show me your strength, son of Jade!" Obsidian cried out as she flexed her body.

Tourmaline rushed towards Obsidian, jumped and then spun midair to deliver a spinning roundhouse to her head. Obsidian saw the attack and lifted one of her arms up to block the attack. His leg slammed against her burly arm, absorbing the impact very well. Obsidian grabbed dropped her hammer and grabbed Tourmaline's shirt with her free hand and slammed him into the ground, the stone cracking and crumbling from the impact. She quickly grabbed her hammer and raised it up to smash Tourmaline. Quickly, Tourmaline got to a crouch and hit Obsidian's leg with a roundhouse kick. Obsidian winced in pain as she felt the blade on Tourmaline's grieve sink into her thigh. Tourmaline removed his blade from her leg and leaped up and grabbed her head. He brought it forward and slammed his knee into her jaw. Her head reeled back and Tourmaline brought both of his legs up, pressing off of her face and backflipped back. Obsidian stumbled back, a bruise on her chin and dark orange blood seeping out of the wound in her leg.

Garnet looked over to the fight. She knew Tourmaline was strong, but she was still worried about what might happen. She shook off her doubts and moved back to the pool. The others had found the orb, but only she could grab it. She ran up to the pool, summoned her gauntlets, and grabbed the cracked, black orb from the lava pool. It was white hot to the touch, and it looked like it was ready to explode at any minute.

"Quick give it to Steven!" Tanza shouted.

"I can't! It's still too hot. It'll melt his tongue if he tries to fix it now, and it'll evaporate any spit on it!" Garnet shouted as she brushed any remaining lava off of it.

"So what!? We just have to wait until it gets cool enough?! That could take hours!" Tanza shouted.

"The cooling room! It should be able to get cool enough to be able to be fixed!" Sapphire declared.

"It's worth a shot!" Ruby added.

The gems rushed past the fight, with Garnet holding the blazing orb. She turned back to Pearl and Amethyst.

"You stay here and help Tourmaline!" She ordered.

"That isn't necessary!" Tourmaline shouted.

The others turned to see Tourmaline and Obsidian struggling, his hands tightly gripping the shaft of her hammer, both straining to get the other to move.

"I can handle this! You go ahead and I'll catch up!" Tourmaline declared.

"Cast your petty pride aside and let us help you! This opponent is far beyond your measure!" Pearl shouted.

Tourmaline fell back and flipped Obsidian over. Obsidian swung her lower half down and flung Tourmaline forward from the shaft of her hammer. Tourmaline landed on the ground and slide across the floor.

"She's tough but I know I can beat her! Let me have this! I've lusted for the satisfaction of a true battle for weeks! Do not deny me this pleasure!" Tourmaline barked.

"You really are the son of Jade." Obsidian said with a smirk, "You're both fools!".

Tourmaline turned with an angry scowl. He walked over to his opponent, his intent to crush her. The crystal gems grit their teeth, trying to decide what to do.

"Come on already!" Ruby shouted.

They turned to see the other gems and Steven on the lift back up. Garnet nodded towards the others, and they ran to meet their team. They squeezed between the others and the lift went up. They looked down to see Tourmaline and Obsidian fighting. Obsidian swung her hammer wildly, smashing the floor with each of her massive strikes as Tourmaline dodged each and every strike, retaliating with a kick and punch to her body and face. However as Tourmaline received no damage, Obsidian seemed to be unharmed by his attacks, more annoyed by his assaults than anything else. The sight of the two fighting disappeared and the group was back in the tunnel, now on the verge of bursting. Garnet grit her teeth and Pearl wrapped her arm around Garnet's.

"I'm worried." Garnet admitted.

"Oh I'm sure we have plenty of time to stop the destruction of the temple!" Pearl squeaked nervously.

"Not that, Tourmaline. You remember how strong Obsidian is, it took everything I had to beat her, what chance does Tourmaline have at succeeding?" Garnet asked.

Amethyst punched her leader's leg. Pearl put a hand over her mouth as she gasped at this act.

"Oh come on Garnet! You're over exaggerating with that. You could still move and talk after your fight with her, so you still had some stuff left over! Besides, she's gotta be pretty beat considering that she was stuck in her gem for three centuries." Amethyst argued.

"Besides, this is Tourmaline we're talking about." Ruby said confidently.

Garnet's worried expression turned into a compassionate smile.

"You're right, I don't know what I was thinking. Guess I got a little spooked by seeing her again." Garnet admitted.

Tourmaline flew through the air, eventually bounding on the floor. Obsidian managed to get one good hit on him with her hammer, sending him flying far away from her. He shoved his hand into the ground and managed to ground himself, his hand and feet carving deep lines in the stone as he slowed himself down. Obsidian stared him down and then slammed her hammer into the ground, sending a large wall of flames hurtling towards him. Tourmaline's gem glowed a bright green and he sent out a large wall of his own green energy towards the flaming wall with a kick. The two attacks touched, resulting in a large explosion of black smoke. From the smoke, Obsidian jumped to Tourmaline, her hammer flaming and geared to pulverize Tourmaline. Tourmaline rushed forward and did a flip kick, smacking her chin with the tip of his boot, and the second kick slashing her stomach. Tourmaline landed on his feet and Obsidian fell on her back, rubbing her jaw as she got up. The newly formed orange line on her stomach slightly obscuring her patterns, she shook off the attack and stared at the cocky gem. Her scowl turned to a sanguine grin.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Obsidian asked.

"Go ahead, fire away." Tourmaline answered.

"Why do you deny me the opportunity to get my revenge?" She asked bluntly.

"Because it's against my friend, duh." Tourmaline replied.

"Guess that was a dumb question." She said.

"Since I answered your question, how about you answer mine? Why did you decide to go all rogue and kicking everyone's ass?" Tourmaline asked.

"Because I am superior to them! My strength far exceeds that of other lifeforms, so I should be able to do what I please! That is why I must get rid of Garnet, I cannot allow a power equal or greater to mine exist!" Obsidian explained.

Tourmaline's cocky smile turned into a disgusted scowl. He started to walk towards Obsidian, his fists clenched tightly.

"That's funny, I knew a couple of guys who had the same mentality." Tourmaline said.

"You see? I'm not insane! This is a universal truth that many people adhere t-"

"That attitude got both of them killed." Tourmaline stated morbidly.

Obsidian shut up as she stared down at Tourmaline. Before she could respond, Tourmaline punched her in the stomach as hard as he could. The impact of the blow was painful enough, but her newly formed wound burned on top of that. She hunched over and then Tourmaline grabbed her head with both of his hands and violently yanked it down. He smashed his forehead against her nose, breaking it and causing a flood of orange blood to spill out. She reeled back from the vicious blow, groaning in pain as the orange blood sprayed out through the air. He then kicked her uninjured leg, driving the grieve's blade into her knee joint. Obsidian buckled over, kneeling over in pain. Tourmaline kicked Obsidian's chin harder than he ever did before and launched her into the air. Obsidian felt like her teeth were about to crack from the shock of the blow. Tourmaline leaped into the air and grabbed her head. He flipped midair and landed in a crouching position on the ceiling, Obsidian barely touching the ceiling. Tourmaline then pressed off the ceiling as hard as he could, hurtling down to the floor like a meteor. Mustering all his strength against the wind pressure, he pushed Obsidian's head forward. He slammed her head into the ground, shattering the ground around them and sending dozens of large cracks to spread across the room. Obsidian twitched as the pain rushed from her head to the rest of her body. Tourmaline then lifted her up by the face and tossed her up into the air. She fell forward and Tourmaline stepped back. He growled and then unleashed a flurry of lightning fast kicks. The assault left Obsidian floating in the air, spasming about as if she were getting blown away by a heavy machine gun. At last, Tourmaline spun around and delivered a massive back kick to her stomach. Obsidian was sent flying across the the chamber, bounding against the floor like a ball until she slammed into a wall. She groaned in pain but managed to peel herself from the wall, only to fall on both of her knees. She looked up to stare at Tourmaline, standing right in front of her, now at her eye level.

"How...how can you be so strong?" She wheezed.

"Parental influence I guess." Tourmaline said.

"I have to restore my power...I need to return home!" Obsidian shouted.

"Wait what? Hold up I don't think that's gonna fl-"

Obsidian slammed her hammer down and engulfed herself in flames. The flame rushed past Tourmaline and blazed up the exit on the ceiling. Tourmaline stared in disbelief and then scowled.

"Garnet's gonna kill me." He said to himself.

The gems gathered around the cooling unit in the bright blue room. They stared at the bright red, cracked orb, hoping that it wouldn't be too late. A timer went off and the orb was bathed in an aqua gas. The gas filled the small chamber and then dissipated, turning the once bright red orb it's original black. Garnet reached in and brought it out and handed it to Steven.

"Steven, lick this now!" She demanded.

Steven hesitated to touch the thing.

"Don't worry, it's very cool." Garnet reassured.

Steven nodded and then gave the orb a giant lick. The cracks in the orb grew brighter, and then faded back to darkness. The crystal gems heaved a relieved sigh and then Garnet walked to the door out.

"Come on, we have to put this back immediately." Garnet stated.

Garnet ran forward and they made it back to the foyer. They were about to make it into the orange door's corridor, but a giant fireball rushed in front of them. The blazing entity rushed into the door towards the warp panel and the others stared in disbelief.

"Was that-" Pearl started.

"No time, we have to get to the center!" Garnet demanded.

Garnet rushed through the orange corridor and jumped straight into the hole head first. Her fears for Tourmaline returned and she had to see if he was still there. The tube was about to burst, small bits of magma flowing in. Eventually she reached the bottom, landing in a crouch. She looked up to see a disgruntled Tourmaline. He had a few bruises and burns, but all around fine. She heaved a sigh of relief and ran towards the obsidian orbs home. Tourmaline saw her run past her and then saw her leap to the pool. She gently placed the orb into the pool and it glew a bright red. The eyes of the gem statues lit up, and a red wave of energy swept over the walls. The tube's cracks vanished and the walls of the temple began to repair themselves. WIth that crisis averted, she turned her attention to Tourmaline, who was now standing at the base of the stairs.

"Tourmaline! Are you alright? Where's Obsidian?" She asked.

"I'm fine. I managed to beat Obsidian, but she ran away. Said something about going home." He answered.

Garnet bit her lower lip and looked away. Tourmaline looked down with sullen eyes.

"Sorry." Tourmaline said meekly.

Garnet put a hand on his shoulder and Tourmaline looked back up at her.

"You don't have to apologize for anything. You did extremely well today." She said with a warm smile.

"But...Obsidian-"

"Will not be able to return to her home. She's a rogue gem and the only warp pads to space have been inactive for decades. Besides, if you can handle her without too much damage, she has no chance against all of us. She isn't a threat." Garnet explained.

Tourmaline nodded in agreement.

"Now come on, the others are waiting and we should go home." Garnet said.

"Okay." Tourmaline answered.

The two walked up to the elevator and it went up through the now repaired tube. Garnet looked down at Tourmaline with a new sense of pride, similar to that she had for Steven. It took some time but she's gradually seeing him a new way. Then out of no where Tourmaline groaned and crouched down.

"Alright screw this!" He shouted, irritated.

Tourmaline bounded high into the air, intent on reaching the exit. Garnet's smirk turned to a mild look of disdain. She crouched down and jumped up after him.

Obsidian looked at the home world warp panel, seeing the damaged and broken thing. She grit her teeth in frustration and yelled out in anger.

"Damn those crystal gems!" She shouted out.

She winced in pain and grabbed her stomach. She was too wounded from the fight with Tourmaline, she couldn't go anywhere too revealing. She looked down from the warp tower, considering her options for a hideout. She looked down and saw a small island between the clouds.

"Not much to look at, doesn't seem to revealing, doubt there are any signs of gem life there...perfect." She said to herself.

She jumped of the tower and plummeted to the island, passing through clouds and eventually slamming into the island's forest. She groaned in pain as she got up. She walked past the trees and found a large stone wall. She got down on her knees and began to dig a hole. Finally it became knee deep, and she looked back up at the wall.

"_To hide like this...I can't believe I've been driven to this lowly state from a damn experiment._" She thought to herself.

Using the last of her strength, she punched the stone wall, causing a large load of boulders and rocks to come falling down on her. She closed her eyes and let the rocks bury her. Her body poofed away, but her gem remained unharmed, snug between the rocks and boulders. The gem remained motionless, waiting to revive herself with her true strength.


	17. Chapter 17: Isolation

Chapter 17: Isolation

The sky was a faint pink above the solemn forest. The trees shook and their trunks cracked from both the wind and the gems battle. Garnet had found signs of a gem beast near the other side of the world. She and the others quickly came to investigate, finding what had Garnet worried. The beast was big and had the appearance of a skinned gorilla, save the purple textures and two extra pairs of arms. It bared it's fangs and claws at the group, trying it's best to use intimidation to frighten the group, but it was to no avail. It was damaged to the point of nearly collapsing thanks to a dozens stab wounds, cuts, and a few knocks through a tree or three. Tourmaline stood next to Steven as he watched the others battle the great beast.

"Shouldn't you be helping them?" Steven asked.

"Nah, they can handle this easily. Besides, I've had enough fun with Obsidian last mission. It's not nice to be greedy Steven." Tourmaline responded.

Steven nodded in agreement and turned his attention back to the one-sided brawl. The beast slammed it's top pair of arms down towards Garnet and Sapphire. The two jumped back away from the pulverizing hammer-like strikes. Pearl threw her spear at the creature, impaling it's left breast. The beast roared in agony and clenched it's chest. Then, speeding through the forest, sliding between trees came Tanza, ready to strike the beast with a lethal kick. The creature saw the speeding gem coming towards it, and readied itself to parry her attack, only to feel it's arms to be restrained by an invisible force. Taz was focusing her telekinesis on the creature's arms, giving Tanza a wide opening. Tanza jumped up and kicked the creature in the stomach, causing it to hunch over and spit out a bit of purple blood. From behind, Tanzanite and Sapphire slashed the creature's heels, causing it to fall over onto it's knees. Finally, Ruby flipped through the air, both of her swords in hand, and fell upon the monster's head, plunging her blades deep into the giant's skull. It let out one final guttural cry and poofed away, leaving a purple, cube-shaped gem. Garnet picked it up and formed a bubble around it, sending it back to the temple.

"Good work everyone." Garnet congratulated.

Tanza heaved a sigh of relief and smiled to herself. Suddenly, she felt something leap onto her back. She let out a surprised yelp and looked over her shoulder to see Tourmaline's smug grin.

"That was quite a blow back there. You sure you guys had to cut it's heels? I'm sure Tanza's kick was more than enough." Tourmaline stated.

Tanza blushed as Tourmaline clung onto her back.

"Oh come on, we wanted a bit more of the action." Sapphire teased.

"You could've left a little more for me." Amethyst complained, "That went by way too fast.".

"Never thought you would want more work." Tourmaline teased.

"If it's cool stuff maybe." Amethyst shot back.

"Well that's it for today, time to go back." Pearl said.

"Seriously? That's it? How boring." Tourmaline said bluntly.

"You could've joined in at any point Tourmy." Ruby said.

"That would've made this go by even faster." Tourmaline retorted.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Garnet said bluntly.

"Eh, I'll make my own fun here. It looks nice here, think I'll go exploring." Tourmaline said.

Ruby and Garnet exchanged a look and turned back to Tourmaline.

"Nothing's stopping you." Garnet stated.

"Yeah man if you wanna go mess around here that's your business." Ruby said.

"Then it's settled." Tourmaline said.

He gave Tanza a kiss on her cheek and got off of her. Tanza turned around and looked down at her lover.

"I'll be back in a few, alright?" Tourmaline said.

Tanza leaned over and kissed Tourmaline on the lips, "Don't keep me waiting too long.".

"Oh oh! Can I go with you Tourmaline? I wanna see the forest too!" Steven asked.

"Ask your gems." Tourmaline stated.

Steven looked at the crystal gems with an eager grin.

"Alright you can go with him on his hike." Garnet said.

"As long as you bring him home before nine." Pearl said sternly.

"Have fun Steven!" Amethyst said as she waved good-bye.

The other gems waved good-bye to Tourmaline and Steven as they walked back to the warp panel. Tourmaline turned to Steven, still wearing a happy smile and crouched down, doing his best to get to his level.

"So what time is it now?" Tourmaline asked.

Steven reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to see the time.

"Six o'clock." Steven read.

"Great, then we have a good amount of time." Tourmaline said.

Tourmaline stood up and turned around to the dense forest. He started to walk forward and Steven followed close behind. The sunset's fading light illuminated the forest with it's orange light, showing every detail in the bark of the trees, and lighting up every individual leaf in a flood of green and yellow. Tourmaline and Steven looked at the beautiful sight as they walked through the woods. Steven was so entranced by nature's beauty he was about to sing.

"Oooooh-"

"No. My only rule is no musical numbers." Tourmaline said.

"Oh…" Steven said, disappointed.

"Aw come on don't give me that attitude. Hey, there's a mountain over there. Why don't we go up there and get a better view of the place." Tourmaline offered.

Steven looked at him with a sad expression on his face. Tourmaline looked at the young boy, a little surprised by his expression. It only took a few seconds for him to lose his willpower.

"And...you can sing your song too." Tourmaline said.

"Really!?" Steven exclaimed.

"Yeah it's a dumb rule anyway." Tourmaline said.

"Yay!" Steven cheered.

The two began to walk towards the mountain and Steven began his song.

"In this forest's serenity, I'm kinda glad it's just you and me. The sun shining through the trees, lighting up our path with ease. On our own little adventure, to the great mountain we venture! Who knows what we could discover there? A secret gem world, a bear, I don't care! Cause it's just us with a few, hours to do something cool or new, but it's fun that I'm hanging out with you!" Steven sang.

Tourmaline smiled as Steven sang his song. Once Steven finished, Tourmaline looked down with a warm grin.

"That was really good." Tourmaline complimented.

"It comes naturally." Steven boasted.

"Heh heh, from who? Your mom or dad?" Tourmaline asked.

"Uhh, my dad, mostly. My mom sang a bit every now and then though." Steven explained.

"Well I bet she's glad to know that her son is growing up to be a very talented gem." Tourmaline added.

Steven smiled at Tourmaline and they both faced forward again. Eventually they made it to the side of the massive mountain. Looking up, they could barely see the tip of the giant rock, but saw that it was covered in lush vegetation and not just a stone. Tourmaline and Steven looked for a trail to walk up, but then Tourmaline noticed something unusual on the side of the mountain. He started to run towards it.

"Hey Steven! Come here!" Tourmaline shouted.

Steven turned to follow Tourmaline to the obstruction that peaked his interest. Tourmaline stopped and Steven caught up to him, catching his breath and leaning against the mountain with his eyes closed. Tourmaline slowly stepped forward, observing the odd thing.

"Steven, check it out." Tourmaline requested.

Steven stopped panting for air and then looked to the side. He saw a giant, wooden post embedded in the side of the mountain. He moved over to Tourmaline to see the post connected to a few other pieces of lumber to make a giant gateway into the mountain. He looked forward to see a pitch black void. It looked like it spanned for meters.

"Woah." Steven gasped.

"Wanna check it out?" Tourmaline asked.

"You sure that it's safe?" Steven asked back.

"Steven, today we battled a two story tall gem monster and yesterday we went to a temple in the center of the earth. I think this would be the safest thing we've gone to yet." Tourmaline explained.

"You raise a very good point." Steven said.

"Then it's settled, let's check it out! We got time right?" Tourmaline asked.

Steven looked at his phone.

"Seven O'clock." Steven read.

"Awesome, let's go!" Tourmaline declared.

The two gems rushed into the black tunnel to hopefully discover something new. As the boys ran in, Steven inhaled a little bit of dust. He coughed a little and Tourmaline turned over to him.

"You alright Steven?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yeah, I just breathed something funny in." Steven explained.

Tourmaline's gems began to faintly glow, illuminating the tunnel with bright light, showing the carved out walls of stone and dirt. He walked over to Steven and picked him up.

"It's probably dusty down there. I'll keep you up here for now." Tourmaline stated.

"Thanks Tourmaline." Steven said warmly.

Steven grabbed a hold of Tourmaline's shoulders and Tourmaline held his little legs. With that, Tourmaline rushed down the tunnel, stomping holes in the rock and dirt as they moved along.

"Why're you smashing everything up!?" Steven exclaimed.

"I'm leaving a trail so we don't get lost!" Tourmaline explained.

"Ooooooh okay!" Steven said with a smile.

Back at the temple, the gems were relaxing. Tanza, Amethyst, Taz and Tanzanite were playing not so sorry, Sapphire and Garnet were talking about Obsidian, and Ruby and Pearl were sparring with a couple of Pearl's swords. As the two clashed swords, Taz cheered as she managed to get one of her pieces into the safe zone with a lucky roll.

"You sure we shouldn't go after her? That bit about her returning to her full power seems a little worrisome to me." Sapphire asked.

"She seemed to be just as strong as the day I punched a hole through her chest. I'm pretty sure she said that as an excuse to run away from a fight." Garnet explained, "She doesn't seem to be much of a threat anymore.".

"If you say so." Sapphire said as she rolled her eyes.

"Would you like to go after her yourself?" Garnet offered.

"No thanks. I saw that hole in the wall she made with Tourmaline, no way I'm gonna wind up a pancake." Sapphire denied.

Pearl and Ruby locked swords and stared into each other's eyes.

"So you not worried about Tourmaline and Steven?" Ruby asked.

Pearl pushed Ruby back and pointed her sword at Ruby's throat.

"Not really. Tourmaline is a very competent gem and can easily defend Steven from any random animal that might have came near them." Pearl answered.

"Wish they'd hurry up though. It's already seven forty-five." Tanzanite stated.

"Oh don't worry, he's been very good lately. I'm sure he won't want to screw it up for himself." Ruby stated as she got up.

"And I bet he is just begging to have some personal time with his big, tall, purple lovebird!" Amethyst teased.

Tanza blushed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tanza fumbled.

A purple light enveloped Amethyst and transformed her into a purple, grinning Tourmaline.

"Oh Tanza, I love it when we kiss and I get to see you blush with that cute look on your face." Amethyst imitated.

Amethyst made kissing noises and Tanza scowled at her. She was about to smack Amethyst away, but then Amethyst felt a weird energy around her. Taz had a hand extended out and then tossed Amethyst across the room. She rolled on the floor, changing back to her old self until she collided with the breakfast island, standing on her head as her legs sagged down.

"Guess I went a little too far, my bad." Amethyst chuckled.

Tanza ruffled Taz's hair and smiled at the little gem. Taz beamed and looked back up at her mentor.

"Wonder what Tourmaline and Steven are up to." She asked.

"Probably just staring at trees and rocks." Tanza shrugged.

Garnet shrugged too and Pearl looked at the warp panel.

"If that were the case then they would've come back by now." Pearl stated.

"Maybe they found a bunny or something. Steven likes tiny furry animals." Garnet said.

Pearl stared at the warp panel intensely, doubting her friend's suggestions. She dropped her sword and walked to the panel.

"I'm going to go after them. Just to check and make sure they're okay." Pearl stated.

"Worrywart!" Amethyst shouted.

"It's just a small check up. I'll be right back." Pearl said.

The warp panel lit up and Pearl vanished to travel back to the forest.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Ruby said.

"Amethyst! You wanna finish this game or do you accept defeat?" Taz asked.

Amethyst pushed off the wall and landed in a sitting position. She stood up and walked back to the board game.

"Oh please, I've got a comeback just waiting to come...back." Amethyst said, "Shut up."

Tourmaline and Steven had been traversing the underground tunnels for some time now. Both of them were bored out of their minds. Even though they went deeper and deeper, they still found nothing interesting. Steven let out a yawn as Tourmaline continued to walk forward, stomping imprints into the ground, still carrying the little boy.

"Think we might have made a mistake coming down here." Tourmaline admitted.

"Don't say that Tourmaline. If you didn't take the initiative and took us down here, we would've been left wondering what could've been down here." Steven elaborated, trying to make Tourmaline feel better.

"Yeah but you'd think there'd be something cool here! Guess this is why they abandoned this mine. Then again the main reason why people abandon mines is because they either ran out of cool stuff to find or there wasn't anything here in the first place. Either way I should've figured there would've been nothing he-"

Tourmaline felt his right foot sink deeper into the ground than usual, followed by a loud crack echoing throughout the tunnel. Tourmaline looked down to see his foot stuck in the ground, a cluster of large cracks forming around it. He moved his leg slightly and the cracks grew. A second later, the ground beneath them crumbled and the two gems fell into a sinkhole. They fell into darkness, their only light coming from Tourmaline's legs, Steven yelling in surprise. After a few seconds, Tourmaline hit the ground, slamming into the hard rock. Steven fell forward, face planting on Tourmaline's back.

"Uuuuuugh, that sucked. You alright Steven?" Tourmaline asked.

"I'm all good." Steven said as he moved off of Tourmaline's back.

Tourmaline got up and dusted the gravel and dirt off of his clothes. He looked up at the hole he made as he rubbed his ribs. Looks like they fell about twenty feet, nothing too big. He felt Steven tugging his pant leg and looked down at the boy.

"Tourmaline, check it out." He whispered excitedly.

Tourmaline looked at where Steven was pointing and saw something very peculiar. It was a statue embedded in the wall of the cave. It was of a beautiful woman, her light lips a little puckered and her eyes shut. Her long straight hair dropped down to her breasts, and her torso was covered by this odd shirt. It wrapped around her body, leaving her torso and a bit of her breasts exposed. Her legs were bare, save for a stone skirt that reached her knees.

"Oh hello, and who are you?" Tourmaline asked as he walked towards the statue.

Tourmaline was face to face with the statue, looking at her closed eyes. His eyes wandered downwards to see a stone embedded in her chest. Tourmaline's eyes widened at this sight and he looked down to Steven.

"Steven, it's a statue of a gem!" Tourmaline exclaimed.

"I know, I saw!" Steven beamed, "Why do you think it's here?".

"I don't know. Maybe this place was an underground temple along time ago, and then abandoned for some reason." Tourmaline concocted as he began to scratch away dirt and grime from the statue's forehead.

Suddenly, a piece of rock cracked off of the statue's forehead and fell to the ground. Tourmaline looked to see a ghostly grey silver peep out of the place where the black rock fell from.

"Or it's a gem who got imprisoned here from centuries ago." Tourmaline said, startled by the discovery.

Steven looked up and saw the grey bit and gasped in surprise.

"Should we go get Garnet and the rest of the gems?" Steven asked.

"Nah, I'm sure the gems would've used something a bit more high-tech to imprison her if she was a bad egg like Obsidian. Come on, let's get her free." Tourmaline suggested.

"Hmmmmm, alright! So how you gonna free her?" Steven asked.

"The old fashioned way." Tourmaline grinned.

Tourmaline delivered a sidekick to the imprisoned gem's chest. The outer casing cracked all over, nearly shattering. Steven and Tourmaline stood back and waited for the gem to come free. The gem on her chest glowed a bright silver through the cracks. Steven and Tourmaline looked at the glowing being in anticipation as they waited to meet the new gem. The gem glowed for a good thirty seconds, but the cracked casing remained the same. Steven and Tourmaline's excitement died down and they had vacant expressions on their faces. Tourmaline heaved a sigh and then walked up to the statue. He stared at it's face and then brought a hand up. With one forehead flick, the cracks on her body light expanded from her chest to the rest of her body, and then her outer shell exploded. Tourmaline covered his face from the bright light and debris, then looking down at the freed gem. She fell on her hands and knees, her hair obscuring her face. Her stone hair was now revealed to be a smooth, jet black. Her shirt was a dark silver with light blue outlines, and her skirt was a perfect shade of raven black. Her skin was a silver grey, like a deep fog.

"Uhh, hey! Nice to meet ya! Name's Tourmaline, and that kid over there is Steven. We're the ones who freed you." Tourmaline greeted.

The grey gem slowly rose to her feet, her head sagging low so it hid her face. She slowly lifted her head back as she stood erect, her hair slightly parting, revealing only her smile and nose. Tourmaline looked at her chest to see a dark, oval shaped gemstone. She moved her head back and let out a piercing scream. Tourmaline winced in pain and Steven covered his ears. From the corners of her mouth came a grey fog. She finished her scream and the fog dissipated. She moved her head forward and looked Tourmaline in the face. She was roughly the same size as him, maybe an inch higher. Tourmaline looked to see her part her hair backwards. With her hair back, he could see that the shirt cut off at shoulder length. Tourmaline looked at her face to see her eyes. They were like two grey clouds with a small light blue dot in the center of each of them.

"Heh, maybe we shouldn't have disturbed you." Tourmaline chuckled.

"Don't say that handsome. You look like you'd be fun to be around." The grey gem said in a sultry, ominous voice.

"Handso- nevermind. Well Steven and I were about to head out of this mine and were wondering if you wanted to come with." Tourmaline offered.

"Why? You could stay here. With me. Forever." She said as she moved towards Tourmaline.

"That doesn't seem like a nice idea." Tourmaline joked and stepped back.

"What's the matter, worried that I'll bite? Don't worry, you won't feel a thing." She said soothingly.

Steven looked at the grey woman and noticed something odd about her gem. It was hard to make out in the dark, but it looked like her gem was cracked.

"Tourmaline! Her gem is damaged, that's why she's acting weird!" Steven exclaimed.

"How rude, you just met me! I could just normally be like this you know?" She stated.

"Nope, now that I see it your gem is damaged." Tourmaline said as he pointed to it.

"I am offended! You break my seal, call me weird, insinuate that I have an issue...I feel violated and enraged, time for you to die!" She yelled.

Tourmaline jumped back to Steven and picked him up.

"Too dangerous for you here." He relayed.

Tourmaline threw Steven out of the hole, causing him to land hard on his butt. Steven quickly turned back to look down the hole.

"Tourmaline! I'm gonna go get help!" Steven shouted.

"Are you nuts!? It's night, the forest is probably crawling with predators! Stay there!" Tourmaline ordered.

Steven looked down at the hole and back at the tracks, conflicted on what he should do.

Tourmaline turned back to the mystery gem. She had her hands on her gem, and it began to glow a dark black.

"For all this trouble you're giving us, you could at least tell me your name." Tourmaline demanded.

She pulled a long, black thing from her chest, the tip falling out as she finished retrieving the object. The black light disappeared to reveal a long, wavy sword. It's blade was completely black and the handle was a greyish silver, with the etching of a skull on the hilt. She took the sword in one hand and stared Tourmaline down.

"Jet." She admitted.

"Well Jet, you could've been nice but it looks like I'm gonna have to kick your butt." Tourmaline taunted.

"Come and get it big boy." Jet teased.

Tourmaline rushed towards her, summoning his grieves as he came closer and closer. His weapon appeared and he was about to deliver a knee to her stomach, but then the unimaginable happened. Jet inhaled deeply, and then released a sea of fog from her mouth. The force of the torrent of cloud was enough to stop Tourmaline's attack, leaving him coughing from the thick smoke screen. The fog drifted up the hole and a small portion of it floated in front of Steven. Tourmaline recovered from her surprise attack, but now he was completely lost in the room of fog. He couldn't see an inch in front of his face, and Jet was no where to be seen as well.

"You want me so bad, come and find me." Jet challenged.

Tourmaline darted looks everywhere. He quickly turned around and looked everywhere for her, but found nothing. The only sound that filled the cave was her gentle laugh. Tourmaline looked to his side to see a black blade coming for his head. He ducked under the blade, it only scratching his forehead. Tourmaline did a sweeping kick from where the sword was, but he only felt the fog caress his leg. Jet let out a sensual giggle as she drifted around Tourmaline.

"_Alright Tourmaline, focus. Listen to her laugh, get a feel of where she is._" He thought to himself.

Tourmaline focused on the laughter, trying to read where the source of the sound was coming from. It kept changing in sound, getting softer and then louder at an unusual rate. She had to have been toying with him. She knew he was just her prey. Eventually, Tourmaline heard the laugh louder than the others coming from behind him. Quickly he turned around and punched forward. He felt his fist connect something, something hard. Then the sound of crumbling stone filled the cave. He missed.

"Aww, too bad." Jet said smugly.

The black sword came down hard, slicing through Tourmaline's hand. Tourmaline yelled out in pain and clutched the stump. His other hand fell to the ground, slightly twitching. A dark boot emerged from the fog and pressed down hard on the hand, splattering it across the floor.

"Looks like someone's gonna miss that." Jet teased.

"No, not really." Tourmaline chuckled.

Tourmaline strained his arm as hard as he could, struggling to regenerate his arm. Jet stared at Tourmaline from the shadows and the fog, puzzled by the weird act. As hard as he tried, nothing would come out of his arm.

"_What's going on!? Why can't my arm come back!?_" He screamed in his head.

"That's odd. Normally my poison would've eaten your entire arm away by now." Jet said.

Tourmaline looked at the stump of his arm. To his horror, he saw his stump completely covered in some sort of black goo. Whatever it was, it was eating away at his arm and it wouldn't stop. He couldn't grow his arm back because his body was too busy stopping the poison from eating away the rest of it.

"_Oh shit._" He cussed in his head.

"This certainly got more interesting. Finally, someone I can take my time with." Jet grinned, "It'll be incredible to see you die." .

"_Damn it! I would've never let myself get injured like this back in the old days! I've gotten careless, sloppy. I need to focus or I really will die here!_" He thought to himself.

Tourmaline stood in a defensive stance, waiting for her to strike. It would be safer for her to come to him, he couldn't risk that sword strike cutting off another limb. Tourmaline heard the blade coming towards him through the fog, He ducked under the sweeping strike and kicked at the fog, again feeling nothing. The next strike came overhead, but Tourmaline managed to roll backwards, out of the way of the lethal strike. He pressed off the ground and kicked towards where the blade was, again hitting nothing. As he landed on his feet, he felt a sharp pain come across his back. He grit his teeth in pain and felt the slash on his back. Jet laughed again and disappeared.

"_Damn it! She's making a fool out of me! I have to get a hit on her, but how can I when...wait. Her eyes were the same color as this fog, save for those two blue dots. I wonder if…_" Tourmaline thought to himself.

Tourmaline took a deep breath and stopped his gems from glowing. It was now a complete pitch black. Tourmaline slowly turned and scanned the blackness, hoping that his hunch was right. Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he saw two tiny blue dots in the darkness. He found her.

"_Gotcha._"

The two blue dots slithered and swerved in the darkness, moving erratically as Jet stealthily approached Tourmaline. Tourmaline did his best to follow her, but made sure not to make eye contact. The moment she figures out she knows, he loses his opportunity. Jet grew closer and closer, eager to drive her blade into Tourmaline's skull. She grew bored of their little game, and seeing Tourmaline turn off the glow must mean that he's begging for death now. She'd kill him and then leave his body to rot with her, forever in their little heaven. She was right behind Tourmaline, her sword held high and her grin sadistically wide. Before she could strike, Tourmaline quickly turned to her and grabbed her neck with his free hand.

"What!?" She exclaimed.

Tourmaline yanked her down and slammed her against the cave floor. Jet dropped her blade and the sudden impact and let out a yelp of pain. Tourmaline then picked her up by the throat and threw her as hard as he could against the cave wall. She bounded off the wall and Tourmaline rushed back in. He kicked her side, driving the blade of his shoe deep inside her. She let out a cry of pain as Tourmaline spun around, creating a whirlwind blowing all the fog out of the hole, and then threw Jet off of his grieve. She slammed against the stone wall hard and fell to the floor. Tourmaline made his gems glow again to show the sight of her stumbling back to her feet, her side leaking black.

"You jerk! How could you do this to me!?" Jet shrieked as she got back to her feet.

"The same way you cut off my hand." Tourmaline shot back.

"Very funny, but the games end here you miserable brat! I'll melt you into a pudd-urk!"

A spear came out of no where and impaled Jet's shoulder, pinning her against the wall. Tourmaline stared at the weapon in perplexed amazement, and then looked to see where it came from. He looked up at the hole and saw a skinny figure drop down with what appeared to be Steven. The light from his gems revealed the figure to be Pearl.

"Pearl?! What are you doing here?!" Tourmaline asked.

"Getting you two out of trouble! Besides it's eight-thirty, you two should've started coming back home by now." Pearl explained.

"Tourmaline...your arm." Steven said.

Tourmaline looked at his stump of an arm and frowned.

"Yeah, it's kinda bad. Hold up I'm gonna wipe this stuff off of my arm." Tourmaline said as he got on his knees.

"I can just wipe it off for you." Pearl offered.

"It's some sort of corrosive poison. I wouldn't risk it Pearl." Tourmaline explained as he rubbed his stump against the floor.

"What're you doing? Even if you get rid of the poison, you're still stuck with that stump. You're making a fool of yourself." Jet commented.

"Ahh, there we go." Tourmaline said as he got up, his arm now free of the black goo.

Tourmaline strained his arm and muscles as hard as he could, and a new hand shot out from the stump. Tourmaline looked at the new appendage, covered in green blood and moved every finger. Jet stared in astonishment at Tourmaline's unique power. With that done, the gems turned to Jet, still pinned against the wall and bleeding.

"What should we do with her?" Pearl asked.

"Hmm." Tourmaline hummed.

"Go ahead, do what you like! It's all the same, I never have anyone with me! Never!" Jet screamed.

"Steven." Tourmaline said.

"Uh, yeah?" Steven asked.

"Go over there and heal her gem." Tourmaline demanded.

"What!? You can't be serious!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Steven was the one who pointed it out. Something felt off about her, the way she talked, the way she moved, it has to do with her gem being damaged." Tourmaline explained, "So, go over there and fix it.".

"I..okay." Steven agreed.

"Now wait just a minute! You nearly get killed by her, she could have gone and killed Steven, and now you want to help her!?" Pearl yelled as she got in Tourmaline's face.

"Yeah." Tourmaline said bluntly.

"Well I refuse to-Steven!" Pearl exclaimed.

Steven was trying to reach Jet's gem on her chest, but he could barely reach it.

"Steven stop that this instant!" Pearl demanded.

Tourmaline rushed over and picked Steven up, bringing him to the gem's level.

"Steven do it now!" Tourmaline demanded.

"Steven slap!" Steven exclaimed.

Steven slapped his wet, saliva covered hand onto Jet's black gem. She winced as she felt the sensation of drool cover her gem, but then her gem glowed a deep black again. Tourmaline grabbed Pearl's spear and removed it from her shoulder. Jet stumbled forward, clutching her chest as her gem reformed. The glow died out, and her gem was healed. She looked up at Tourmaline and the others, her tiny blue dots now grown to triple their size, showing a balance between the grey and blue. Her rage filled grin was replaced by a timid look on her face.

"What's going on? Why am I bleeding so much? Who are you people!?" Jet screamed.

"Easy, easy! We're not going to hurt you." Tourmaline assured.

Jet looked up at Tourmaline, his wounds still open, and then to Pearl. Her eyes widened when she saw Pearl's spear, covered with her blood.

"No...no! Get away from me!" Jet screamed.

She let out a torrent of fog and filled the entire room. Tourmaline was pushed down by her as she ran to the hole out of the small cave. The gems coughed as they inhaled the fog, and Pearl took Steven and jumped out of the hole. Tourmaline followed close behind and rushed past them. Pearl followed close behind and they eventually made it out of the mine. Pearl looked to see Tourmaline examining a blood trail, obviously from Jet.

"Are we going after her?" Pearl asked.

"No, I'm going after her. You take Steven home." Tourmaline ordered.

"You sure about that?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, she's scared, she won't fight. Besides it would be better if we don't crowd her. Also her blood on your spear doesn't help." Tourmaline explained.

Pearl looked at her spear and then poofed it away.

"Come Steven, you need to get to bed." Pearl said.

Steven looked up at Pearl and then up at Tourmaline. Tourmaline crouched down and pat Steven's head.

"I had fun today little buddy." Tourmaline said with a smile.

"Okay." Steven said.

"Did you have fun?" Tourmaline asked.

"At first yeah." Steven admitted, "Until you got hurt.".

"Aww don't worry about it man. It's my fault I got in this mess, now you go home and rest up, okay?" Tourmaline asked.

"Okay Tourmaline." Steven said with a smile.

Steven walked ahead of Pearl and Pearl followed behind him. Pearl looked back at Tourmaline with a worried expression.

"Be careful." Pearl said.

"Never am." Tourmaline said.

Tourmaline ran off to follow the bloodstains up the mountain, and Pearl turned back to take Steven home. As Tourmaline ran, his cocky smile faded to a frustrated frown.

"_But I should be more often._" He thought to himself.

Pearl and Steven warped back to their home. The clock said nine-fifteen, and most of the gems had went back into the temple. Garnet, Amethyst and Tanza were waiting for them. Pearl heaved a sigh and Steven walked towards the stairs.

"Go get ready for bed Steven." Pearl ordered.

"Okay." Steven said.

"Where's Tourmaline?" Tanza asked.

"Let me explain what happened. Steven and Tourmaline traveled through the forest and found some mine, and in that mine they discovered another gem." Pearl started.

The others eye's widened at this troubling news.

"Tourmaline had been fighting her but I managed to save him just in time." Pearl continued.

"You just did an extra hit!" Steven shouted.

The others stared at Pearl with skeptical glances and Pearl blushed.

"Anyways, her gem was cracked, but Steven healed her. She got scared and then ran off. Tourmaline is still out there and he's tracking her down." Pearl finished.

"And you let him go alone?" Tanza asked.

"He wanted to go by himself, said I'd freak her out if I came too." Pearl answered.

Garnet and Amethyst walked over to Pearl

"This isn't right. First Obsidian and now this mystery gem." Garnet started.

"Her name is Jet!" Steven shouted from upstairs.

"Thanks Steven!" Amethyst shouted back.

"New gems are coming out of the woodwork. We need to figure something out." Garnet explained.

The crystal gems walked into the temple. Garnet opened the door to the room where they kept the corrupted gems, and the trio disappeared inside. Tanza got up off the couch and looked at the warp panel.

"_Hurry up and come home safe._" She thought to herself.

Tourmaline jumped up the steep rocks, following the trail of blood. He had nearly scaled the mountain, just about ready to get to Jet. He didn't know why he was chasing after her, he just had a feeling in his gut. The trail stopped scaling upwards, and then saw it move over to the side to a group of trees. Tourmaline rushed forward and to the trees. As he was about to reach the trees, Jet jumped out from behind one of the trees and was ready to slash him with her sword. Tourmaline acted quickly and grabbed her arm, stopping the attack. Jet grunted and struggled to get free but Tourmaline slammed her against the tree to stop her from moving.

"I'm not gonna hurt you! Stop it!" He shouted.

Jet breathed heavily and looked into Tourmaline's eyes. She relaxed her body and dropped the sword. Tourmaline let her go and she stood in front of him.

"Jet...who are you? Why were you imprisoned in that cave?" Tourmaline asked.

Jet averted her gaze and moved over to a dead log. She sat down and Tourmaline followed and sat next to her.

"Tourmaline, I've been alive for millenniums. In those many years, I've seen dozens of wars and violence. I've met many friends, but it's all the same. They all eventually die. No matter what, everyone around me just happens to end up dead. I couldn't stand it anymore. I ran away to earth around six centuries ago. The people here were friendly, happy and accepting of me. I fought to protect my new friends as I failed to protect my old ones, but it's all the same. They died of old age, and I couldn't take it anymore. I found this mineshaft and traveled deep into it, going far under the world to hide away from the infinite cycles of death. I sealed myself away, hoping that I'd never awake to avoid the grief of losing another friend. I remained there for centuries, until you showed up that is." Jet explained.

Tourmaline stared at her.

"And yet here I am. Back in this world, alone once more." Jet said.

"You don't have to be." Tourmaline responded.

"Huh?"

Tourmaline extended his hand out.

"You can come with me. There are a lot of great people where I live, you don't have to be alone." Tourmaline offered.

"I...I don't know what to say." Jet stuttered.

"Well yes is expected." Tourmaline joked.

Jet looked away, and then back at Tourmaline.

"I'm sorry. But I'm not sure if I'm ready to do something like that yet." Jet said.

Tourmaline pulled his hand back.

"Oh...I see." Tourmaline said.

Tourmaline got up off the log and started to walk away. Jet got up and followed him.

"Is that it? You're just going to leave me?" Jet said.

"I can't force you to go. When you're ready, I'll come by and bring you by my home." Tourmaline promised.

"I'll be sure to think about it." Jet said.

Tourmaline turned around and flashed Jet a smile, and then he jumped off the mountain and then dragged down the mountain side. Jet looked down at Tourmaline and touched her gemstone. She looked back up to see the sparkling sea of stars swirling above her. She gazed up in amazement at the beautiful view of the night sky.

"_It's been so long since I've seen such a beautiful sight._" She thought to herself.

Tanza stood in front of the warp panel, staring at the warp panel as she waited for her lover to come back to her. Suddenly, the room was filled with light and revealed Tourmaline. Tourmaline looked around to see if anyone else was around, but it was only Tanza. She walked over and looked down at Tourmaline.

"You had a good walk?" She asked.

"Yeah. I guess Pearl told you about Jet?" Tourmaline asked back.

"Yes. Why did you go after her?" Tanza asked.

Tourmaline walked over to the couch and sat down. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled, getting rid off all of his wounds. Tanza sat down next to him.

"It's just that...I don't know, we should help these gems out is all. If Ruby didn't help me, I'd still be a bad person, hurting others for no reason and just being cruel and miserable all my life. I don't want others to act like that too." Tourmaline explained.

Tanza put a hand on Tourmaline's hand.

"You know you don't have to do it alone." Tanza said.

"I know." Tourmaline stated.

Tanza took her other hand and put it on Tourmaline's cheek, moving his face so he was looking her in the eyes.

"You're important to us too Tourmaline. Important to me." Tanza said soothingly.

"I know." Tourmaline repeated.

"So just relax a bit." Tanza said as she got closer to Tourmaline.

"I've been relaxing for a week. I need to get back in action." Tourmaline stated.

"Well just don't over exert yourself, okay?" Tanza requested, mere inches away from Tourmaline's face.

"Alright." Tourmaline agreed.

The two kissed and Tourmaline leaned back. Tanza pressed against Tourmaline as the two of them locked tongues and wrapped their arms around each other. They stayed like that for the rest of the night, relaxing and enjoying each others company. Tourmaline was happy again, thanks to the love of his life.


	18. Chapter 18: The Scars That Bind Us

Chapter 18: The Scars That Bind Us

The sun shined brightly upon the beach. The waves gently caressed the shore and then retreated back into the ocean. The serenity of the afternoon day was disrupted by a loud crash and a massive cloud of sand and dust. Tourmaline got up from the newly formed crater in the ground and looked back at the group, currently fighting a swarm of gem monsters. The beasts looked like shaved wolves, and were a bit larger than them as well. They had large purple streaks of gems on their sides and a long stream of dark blue fur on their backs, contrasting from their dark green skin. The crystal gems had gone off on a mission with Steven, so it was up to him and his friends to defend the temple. Tanzanite kicked a wolf off of Taz, while Tanzanite and Ruby were fighting the rest of the pack, and Sapphire had ripped one of the wolves throat open. One of the wolves got a lucky tackle on Tourmaline and knocked him away, but he was barely deterred by it.

"Tourmaline get your butt back here!" Ruby shouted.

Tourmaline rushed across the sand and kicked one of the wolves across the beach. The beast yelped in pain as it skidded across the beach, a large wound forming on it's side. Tanza dropped an axe kick on another one's back, slicing it in two. Ruby slashed a pair of wolves simultaneously, cleaving them in half. One of them wolves leaped towards Tanzanite, but she caught it with her sword, driving it back into the ground, impaling it's chest. Sapphire picked one of the wolves by it's neck and slashing it's stomach with her other hand. She threw it at the other wolves, knocking them all down.

"Wonder why the crystal gems were so willing to go out and leave us behind? Garnet can see the future can't she?" Sapphire asked.

"She gets predictions. Not the same thing." Tanza answered.

"Right right, whatever." Sapphire groaned, "You think they could've stayed behind for a second to help us out with this mess.".

"Something else had to have come up. Disasters happen all the time, not a surprise they'd leave us with a little bit of a challenge while they handle the other messes. They're just covering their bases." Tourmaline explained.

Tourmaline picked up one of the wolves and slammed it down on his knee, breaking it's back and causing it to poof away. Taz paralyzed a pair of wolves and Tanza cleaved the two helpless creatures in half. Ruby kicked one of the dogs into the air and sliced it to chunks with her swords. Sapphire rushed towards a pair of wolves that were running towards her, ready to crush the two wolves. She was about to meet with them when suddenly, another wolf sprung up from the sand in the ground. It's wound sprayed a bit of blood, though it was now packed with sand. Sapphire's eyes opened wide with surprise and then she felt an immense amount of pain in her neck. Sapphire fell back, the wolf collapsing on top of her and tearing through her throat. The other wolves had approached the fallen Sapphire and joined in on the feeding frenzy. One grabbed one of her thrashing arms while the other focused on her kicking legs. Sapphire gagged and gargled in pain as she felt blood bubble up from her throat. Using her free hand, she thrust her free hand into the first wolf's own throat. The monster released it's bite, causing a load of blue blood to spray out from her neck. Tourmaline turned from the other wolves to see his friend, mutilated and bleeding on the ground. His eyes went wide and he felt something boil up inside him. Something familiar. The first wolf poofed away and so did Sapphire. The other beasts took a second to realize what happened, and they turned to her gems. One of the wolves was about to crunch her gem, it's bloodstained maw opened wide and it's drool dribbling out of it's mouth. It's teeth clinked against the stone, and then it felt it's body shatter. Tourmaline had leapt into the air and smashed down onto the first wolves back, breaking it underfoot. He quickly turned to the other wolf and grabbed it by the jaws. His muscles strained for a second and then he tore the beast in half, letting out a primal scream. The other's turned to see the gruesome scene.

"Tourmaline! What happened!?" Tanza shouted.

Tourmaline quickly crouched down and picked up Sapphire's gems. He threw them towards Taz and she caught them with her telekinesis. She looked up and saw her friend's gems. She let out a light gasp and the others looked up to see the two blue gems. Tourmaline rushed forward and with one lethal strike, he let out a wave of energy from his leg, vaporizing the last of the pack. Tourmaline breathed heavily as the dust settled, the others staring at him. Ruby walked over to him and looked into his eyes. She flinched back when she saw them as emerald green.

"To-Tourmaline...your eyes." Ruby stammered.

"I know. Don't worry, it's nothing big. Just a side effect from that fusion incident." Tourmaline assured, the color flushing from his eyes.

Tourmaline turned around and stomped off to the beach house, brushing past Tanza.

"Where are you going!?" Tanza shouted.

"To stew and chill out!" Tourmaline shouted back, "Just leave me be!".

Tanzanite sighed and walked over to see Sapphire's gems. Taz was holding the stones in her hands now, and she passed them to Ruby. The group walked back to the house, following Tourmaline close behind.

Tourmaline kicked the door to the beach house open and continued stomping off to his room. As he approached the door to the temple, the warp panel lit up and the crystal gems appeared. Garnet had a disc floating above her open palm and Steven had a big smile on his face. Tourmaline walked around the warp panel and to the door.

"Oh hey Tourmaline! How's it go-" Amethyst started.

Tourmaline ignored her and entered the temple without saying a word. The gems looked at each other and shrugged.

"What's his problem?" Amethyst asked.

"There's no guessing with him." Pearl stated.

"You think something happened?" Steven asked.

Just then, the other gems had walked into the room. Garnet waved hello and the other gems turned around to see them. Steven's happy expression faded away into a concerned frown when he saw Tanza holding two blue gems. Steven ran forward and the others followed close behind. The crystal gems looked down to see the blue, smooth spheres that held Sapphire within.

"What happened?" Garnet asked.

"A group of crystawolves tried to attack the temple. One of them got the jump on her and took her down." Ruby explained.

"It just came out of the ground!" Taz exclaimed.

"Yeah, sneaky little thing." Ruby spat.

"Least you got her before her gems got destroyed." Pearl said.

"Thank Tourmaline for that. He went a bit berserk when he saw what happened to her." Ruby added.

"He lost control again?" Garnet asked.

"I saw him tear a wolf in half and then he wiped out the rest of the pack." Tanza explained.

"Guess that's why he stormed off a few moments ago." Amethyst commented.

"He said he wanted to stew, whatever that means." Taz replied.

"That means to relax, Taz." Tanza explained.

"Oh."

Pearl took Sapphire away from Tanza and brought her over to the couch. She examined the little gems and heaved a sigh.

"I haven't seen her like this in a long time." Pearl said.

Steven walked over and sat next to her.

"You knew her before the rest of them came here?" Steven asked.

"Yes. I'll tell you about it when you're older." Pearl said.

"Aw come on! I'm a...large...man...I'm old enough!" Steven whined.

"Yeah, why don't you tell us about your experience with her? She's always been very ambiguous about her past." Ruby asked.

Pearl stared at Ruby and the rest of the gems and back to Steven, who was giving her his best puppydog eyes. Pearl felt uneasy and turned back to Garnet. Garnet gave her a slight nod and Pearl heaved a sigh.

"Fine, I'll tell you what you need to know." Pearl said.

"Woo!" Steven exclaimed.

Pearl heaved a sigh and began with her story.

"We met Sapphire centuries ago. She was a young gem, raised by a rogue gem who claimed to be her father. But those experiments ended with...well, you know who. He was a serious threat to the peace of earth, so your mother led us to him and we took him down." Pearl started.

"You mean you killed him." Ruby said.

"No! Well, technically speaking we made him retreat into his gem and he's been in a bubble ever since, but we tried to reason with him. When Rose bubbled him, Sapphire came out of no where and tried to attack her. However Sapphire's attack was unsuccessful. Garnet's cross counter to her face was more than successful." Pearl continued.

"Really Garnet?" Steven asked.

"I was defending your mother." Garnet responded.

"After the knockout punch, Sapphire's memory was completely scrambled. Your mother had the idea of bringing her in and reversing whatever that monster did to her. And it worked, for a while at least. The four of us traveled the world, bonded together and had a lot of adventures. Then...the bridge incident happened." Pearl said solemnly.

"Bridge incident?" Taz repeated.

"A few decades after that, there was a battle on a bridge. There was a gem monster and a group of humans were caught in the crossfire. We did our best to fight without the humans getting hurt, but Sapphire was so reckless. She just kept fighting, disregarding the other people's lives. And then, one unlucky blow hit the bridge, and dozens of humans went crashing down." Pearl choked.

"You can't be serious." Ruby said, astonished.

"I wish I wasn't. After that, the argument happened. There was shouting, blaming, insults and many hurtful things flung everywhere. Eventually...I spilled the beans on her past. Sapphire ran away after that and we never saw her again. Guess finding out your family has been lying to you for decades will do that to a person." Pearl finished.

"Geez. I never would've guessed." Tanza said.

"Yeah, so our history has been very complicated." Amethyst chimed in.

"But it's in the past now, and she wants to be a good guy now! Like Tourmaline!" Steven exclaimed.

"Yeah...like Tourmaline." Pearl said.

"Something wrong Pearl? You seem to be a little, off." Ruby said.

"What? There's nothing wrong. Nothing at all." Pearl protested.

The gems stared Pearl down and walked up to her. They surrounded her and Pearl was sweating bullets, trying her best to keep her facade up.

"You have an issue with Tourmaline?" Tanza accused.

"What!? No! Stop asking questions." Pearl chattered.

"Cut it out Pearl, spill it." Tanzanite demanded.

"I...alright fine!" Pearl surrendered, "I can't get over the fact that he was a murderer most of his life!".

The other gems stepped back in disbelief at what they heard. Pearl was holding a grudge against Tourmaline for his bloodstained past. Ruby clenched her fist tightly and the others shot their own disgusted expression at Pearl.

"I'm sorry. I know he's a good person now and he's a gem that I can call my comrade and friend...but I still can't find it in me to forgive him for what he's done." Pearl explained.

"But he was hired to only take care of bad people. Doesn't that count for something?" Steven asked.

"Oh Steven, as much as I want to think that, I can't. Gems aren't meant to interfere in the lives of humans. We have our own battles and they have their own, it's as simple as that. We just make sure that our affairs don't bleed into theirs, lest the humans will suffer even more." Pearl explained, "You understand?".

"I...guess so?" Steven said, confused.

"That isn't fair Pearl! It's not like he had a good impression of human life, unlike the rest of us. I don't blame him for becoming a psychopath, and even he realized that his way of life was wrong! He wants to change!" Ruby protested.

"That doesn't change what he did." Pearl stated.

"I...you-" Ruby started.

Tanza placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder and walked in front of her to face Pearl.

"You shouldn't hold that against him. He wants to move past it, he realized his what he has done, and he regrets it. You shouldn't let that cloud your judgement of him. I'm certain that your past isn't completely clean either Pearl." Tanza stated.

Pearl scowled and and looked over to the other crystal gems. Amethyst gripped her arm and averted her eyes and Garnet had her arms crossed. Pearl stood up and moved to the kitchen.

"Well, is that all you have to say?" Tanzanite asked.

"I won't talk about this anymore. You speak of this "justification" he has for his actions, but I don't buy it. And considering your attitudes, I refuse to continue this pointless discussion." Pearl answered.

"Well...what if we just ask Tourmaline then!? I'm sure he'd be willing to explain his actions to us! We're his friends and we understand why he has done what he did in the past!" Ruby shouted.

Pearl turned around and looked over the counter.

"Then do it." She said calmly.

Tourmaline sat in his room, still shaking from the previous fight. He felt this anger, deep inside of him, the sight of seeing his friend being torn to shreds made him snap again. He hasn't felt an anger like this since seeing Tanza get impaled weeks ago. Tearing those dogs apart, seeing them blown apart had reminded him of the days of his past. His old missions. Deep in his subconscious, whenever he fights monsters, he makes the connection to his old missions of slaughtering humans and assassinating random men. The endless nights, the rooms and streets running red with blood, it all comes back to him every now and then. He does his best to push it back, but it always finds a way to creep back into his head. As much as he tries to run from his past, it finds a way to creep back behind him and hang around like his own shadow. He heaved a sigh and tried his best to keep it out of his head.

"_Keep it together Tourmaline...you've been doing great these weeks and that Emerald incident wasn't even your fault...sort of. You have a nice life now. You have family. Relax and let the thoughts go away._" Tourmaline thought to himself.

His meditation was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the stone wall. He turned around to see Ruby in the doorway. He heaved another sigh and walked over to her.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you I wanted to be left alone." Tourmaline said.

"We need to talk." Ruby stated.

"If it's about the wolves thing, you would've done the same thing. By the way, did you find any gems from them?" Tourmaline asked.

"We haven't found anything near it. There's probably a pack leader lurking around somewhere, probably counting it's losses. And it's not about that, but it is about you. More specifically, your past." Ruby said.

Tourmaline turned his back to Ruby and walked back into his room.

"Get out of my room Ruby." Tourmaline demanded.

"Tourmaline, listen. You've been dancing around this elephant in the room for months now. I never asked anything because I know that you don't want to look back on it, but enough is enough. We need to know more about you. What happened when you grew up and caused you to get so...malevolent." Ruby explained.

"Humans were cruel to me so I was cruel back. Simple as that." Tourmaline said.

"No, it's not. You need to let us know. Let us know everything and now." Ruby demanded.

"Why the hell does it matter!?" Tourmaline shouted.

Ruby was silent, stunned by Tourmaline's sudden outburst.

"I don't want to look back on that bloodstained past ever again. I threw all that away when you spared my life." Tourmaline said.

"And then you killed more people." Ruby argued.

"That was to protect your home, and that was it. Those were my last kills." Tourmaline shot back.

"You're missing the point. If you really want to get rid of this past, you need to face it instead of running away." Ruby said.

"I did, and I nearly died from that. Remember?" Tourmaline stated.

"...You're right." Ruby admitted.

She turned around and started out the room. She turned back to Tourmaline and shot him one last look.

"I just thought you trusted us enough to let us know." Ruby said.

Ruby walked out and Tourmaline stared at the wall. She knew just the right thing to say to get under his skin. Tourmaline growled to himself and rushed out of the room.

"Hey!" He shouted.

Ruby turned back and looked at Tourmaline.

"When Sapphire returns...I'll tell you everything." Tourmaline promised.

Ruby smiled at him.

"Thank you." She said, "You wanna come back and hang out with us?".

"Give me a minute. I gotta think of how I'm gonna tell my story without giving Steven nightmares." Tourmaline joked.

"If the Emerald thing didn't do it, then I doubt anything will!" Ruby laughed.

The two shared a laugh and then Ruby left. Tourmaline walked into the center of his room and sat down, thinking back on his past. Every little evil deed he's done, every cruel act he's committed, it's time to face it all. All he hoped is that his friend's opinion of him wouldn't change. It couldn't. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

Pearl was in the process of making dinner for the rest of the gems. As she chopped vegetables, the rest of the gems gathered around to talk, with Ruby just joining them.

"So he agreed to it?" Tanzanite asked.

"Yeah, when Sapphire comes back, he'll spill it." Ruby assured.

"Shouldn't be too long. Sapphire always was good at bouncing back." Amethyst claimed.

"If you say so." Tanza stated.

"So, Ruby. What's your deal with Tourmaline? You seem very quick to defend him." Garnet asked.

"It's just...I don't know I see a bit of myself in him." Ruby said, "I grew up in a pretty bad environment, but one man's kindness was all I needed to stop myself from slipping.".

"And all it took was one friend to stop Tourmaline, right?" Amethyst asked.

"Yeah." Ruby said.

Pearl started sauteing the vegetables as she eavesdropped on their conversation. She didn't like what she said earlier, but she meant it. She does her best not to cloud her judgement of the boy, but it's still hard. It was hard for Sapphire too.

Suddenly, the two blue gems floated up into the air and emitted a deep blue glow. From the light came Sapphire, looking the same as usual. She fell to the floor and landed on her knees. She looked up at the others, perplexed by her sudden regeneration.

"Geez Amethyst you weren't kidding when you said she bounced back fast." Tanzanite commented.

"This is a new record." Amethyst shot back.

"How long was I out?" Sapphire asked.

"About an hour and a half." Ruby answered.

"Geez." Sapphire said, "So what happened while I was gone?".

"We learned that Pearl still has an issue with Tourmaline and we learned a bit about your past." Ruby said.

"You what?" Sapphire uttered in shock.

"Yeah, interesting things." Tanza said.

Sapphire said nothing and sat down on the couch. Tanzanite put a hand on her shoulder and Sapphire looked over at her.

"We don't hold it against you. We all have had things happen to us in the past. Things we regret." Tanzanite said.

"My biggest regret wasn't that bridge thing." Sapphire said.

With that Pearl stopped messing with her pan and stood completely still. Depending on her next words, Pearl was ready to unleash every bit of anger and disgust she could muster.

"My biggest regret was running away." Sapphire said.

"Excuse you?" Garnet said.

"I shouldn't have run, I should've just stayed and faced the consequences. Even if you were lying to me for all those years, I eventually realized that you had a good reason to do so. I wanted to come back and say I was sorry to all of you, but I was too scared to. I was afraid of what you might say, what you might do." Sapphire explained.

Garnet and Amethyst stared at her and Pearl looked down at her food with a newly kindled sense of regret. She never would've guessed her true feelings. Even after all these years, she was still this young gem. Pearl took the pan off of the stove and placed it on the kitchen counter. She walked over to Sapphire and crouched down next to her.

"I'm sure Rose would've wanted to see you again." Pearl assured her.

Sapphire looked down at the ground in silence. Ruby stood up and walked over to the temple.

"You gonna go get Tourmaline?" Taz asked.

"Yeah, Sapphire's back after all." Ruby said.

"Maybe you should give him some more time. He probably needs some time to get his story straight." Tanza said.

"It shouldn't take too long to remember what he's done." Pearl said.

"No, she's right." Garnet stated, "Grab him after dinner.".

"You sure about that?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, he probably needs a few minutes to relax anyway. Give him a minute and then we'll grab him." Garnet said.

"Alright then." Ruby agreed.

"So what is for dinner anyway?" Steven asked.

"Sauted vegetables and beef." Pearl answered.

Tourmaline laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling. He was thinking of every little thing he had done back in his dark past. What missions to talk about, what people he killed, what cruel acts he had committed, what wars he had participated in, there was so much to go through. Tourmaline felt his stomach twist into knots at the thought of what he had done. All this time he had pushed his past aside, he thought it ended with Topaz, but no, it never ended. He rolled to his side and looked up at the scarred walls, remembering his breakdown with his father's gem.

"_I really need to redecorate this place._" He thought to himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by the same familiar sound of someone knocking on the cave wall. He sat up and looked to see Garnet and Ruby.

"How long has it been?" Tourmaline asked.

"It's been about an hour and a half since I left." Ruby answered.

"Is Sapphire back?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's here." Garnet replied, "You ready to talk?".

Tourmaline got up with a little grunt and walked over to the other gems.

"Let's get this over with." He stated.

"Tourmaline...you don't have to do this if you don't want to. If you want to leave the past behind, you can. I shouldn't push you into doing this." Ruby admitted.

"I do. I'm tired of dancing around this issue and it should be put to rest once and for all." Tourmaline stated.

"Okay."

Tourmaline walked ahead and towards the door back to the home. He entered the house to see Tanza and Tanzanite doing the dishes, and the others were sitting on the couch. Tourmaline heaved a sigh and walked over to the breakfast bar and took a seat. Tanza and Tanzanite placed the rest of the dishes on the drying rack and the other gems gathered around him.

"So...you want to know about my past, right?" Tourmaline asked.

"If you're ready to talk about it, yes." Tanza answered.

"Alright. About five hundred years ago, I came to be. I was a baby at the time so I don't really know the details. My first memory was in an old orphanage. I wasn't really looked on fondly, due to my "birth defect", and the staff didn't give a damn about me. Times were rough back then, I was lucky enough to be in an orphanage and not on the street. I was bullied a bit too. I was weak back then, I didn't know how to fight for myself. Then one day, there were these two boys, real mean and going all out today. They beat me within an inch of my life. I was scared for my life, I was angry for what they were doing to me. Then I learned how to summon my weapon, and how to use it." Tourmaline started.

The other gems stared in astonishment. Tourmaline's eyes were dead and his expression was tired.

"After that, I ran. I was terrified at what I've done. I killed a person for the first time. I was afraid of what was going to happen to me. I was scared what everyone else would think of me. So I turned my back to the orphanage and ran as far as I could. I saw myself as a freak and that I wouldn't fit in anywhere. But underneath all of those feelings of anger and regret, I felt a sense of satisfaction. All of that time I had been taking abuse, and after I gave it to something else, I felt this new sense of satisfaction. I just kept that idea of satisfaction in my mind, it was the only way I could live on the streets without going insane." Tourmaline continued.

Tourmaline turned over to Taz and Steven, both of which were looking up at him with worried eyes.

"I want them to go away. I don't feel comfortable talking about the rest of my story with them here." Tourmaline demanded.

"And you were fine with saying that in front of them?" Pearl asked coldly.

"Trust me, it's only going to get worse." Tourmaline stated.

Pearl looked down to Steven.

"Steven, why don't you take Taz upstairs and the two of you can play your game system together?" Pearl requested.

"But…" Steven started.

"Please do it. You're too young to hear stuff like this. That goes for you too Topaz." Tanza ordered.

Steven sulked a bit and then walked upstairs. Taz followed behind him and the two turned on Steven's television. The gems turned back to Tourmaline and he was ready to begin again.

"So on the streets, I had to fight to survive. Whether it was stealing some food, or dealing with a gang, it ended in violence. The feeling of guilt and regret died slowly over time with each fight, and the feeling of satisfaction against the cruel people of the world grew more and more. This went on for decades, and eventually it stopped bothering me. Then I saw this duke, I don't know what his name was, but he interested me. I decided to follow him around, to see what he did and he made me sick. I saw him do so many cruel acts to many, many people. Exploiting the weak and poor for various things, taking away young girls when their families couldn't afford their taxes, killing fathers and sons who opposed him. Eventually, I broke into his house. Filled with frivolous luxuries and useless treasures only there to bolster his ego. I walked through his home and found a dungeon. I snapped the guard's neck and saw the women. Cold, malnourished, and abused beyond the point of recognition. A few of them were dead, and the other's looked like they were about to keel over. I took the guard's keys and threw them near the cell. If any of them had the will to live, they would've gotten them. I went back and traveled through his courtyard, looking for his room to kill him. Then I saw this dog. It was large, well groomed and growling at me. It was then I realized that this man valued the life of this pathetic mutt more than the lives of those starving women in his dungeon. I broke the dog's jaw and tore it's stomach open." Tourmaline recollected coldly.

"Oh my lord." Pearl said to herself.

"The dog's yelps must have alerted the owners, because I saw a light from a balcony. I hid in the bushes, waiting for someone to come down to me. Eventually, I saw him, wearing some frilly mess and holding a candle. He called out for his dog, but there was no answer. He wandered around the garden, and I stalked him from the shadows, waiting for the right moment to attack him. Soon enough, he found the dog, torn to shreds and laying still. I made my move. I grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and punched him to the ground. I caught his candle and then broke his legs. He cried out in pain, begged for his life, but I didn't listen. His pleas were like the cries of a wounded, squealing pig to me. It was too pitiful to handle, so I broke his jaw as well. Least he stopped spouting his cowardly threats to me. Then I heard his wife. She looked at me in terror, the dog's blood staining my rags and arms. She was about to scream but I rushed towards her and grabbed her head. I bashed her head against a pillar until her head was as soft as jelly, her blood now covering my face and shoulders. I dropped her to the ground and looked back at him. His eyes welled up with tears, and I felt no sympathy for him. He only cared about these specific things and nothing else. He didn't care for anything but his own possessions, and didn't care about anyone he had to hurt in order for him to keep what he had and gain useless garbage. It was the first time I truly felt hate for someone. With that, I threw the candle into a bush and the courtyard was ablaze. I picked him up and threw him into the fire and watched him burn for a few minutes. I grew bored of his cries and exited the manor. I looked on from the streets at the blazing building with no signs of sympathy or remorse. I guess you could say that was the night I truly abandoned my humanity." Tourmaline continued.

Amethyst and Pearl's jaws were slack in shock. The others stared at Tourmaline in horror. This man who they consider their friend, he was capable of doing something so terrifying? The young gems looked on from upstairs, doing their best to hide away from the other's eye and to eavesdrop on the story.

"That night, he came. Topaz. He had the same devilish grin, and piercing eyes on his face. I just turned to him and said five words to him: "You lookin to die mister?". He just laughed and said he knew about my powers. He followed the police reports of a delinquent with gems on his shins and tracked me down to this place. He admired my cruelty and wanted harness my power. He told me about my origins, about me being a gem, and with that everything made sense. I wasn't like them, I wasn't even one of them. I was an alien in a foreign world. Humans only cared about themselves and they didn't care who they had to hurt in order to get what they wanted. They were filth and scum to us. They had to be exterminated." Tourmaline stated coldly.

"Tourmy…" Ruby uttered.

"With him at my side, I experienced my first war. These men dying for another's cause. The cowardly leaders hiding behind the lives of their citizens just so they could say they were the strongest and gain something they don't even need. It was disgusting. The two of us just killed as many as we could. We didn't care for sides, we just wanted to strike them down. After the war, we were considered very infamous, veritable angels of death. People found us, some tried to kill us, others requested their aid. That was my start as an assassin for hire. For centuries, I killed for hire and I killed for sport. It was fun. War was the worst though. So many cowards who were forced into their position by oppressive leaders, it was pitiful." Tourmaline rambled on.

"I can relate to that. War is hell." Sapphire admitted.

"Same. All those poor people, forced to battle in these pathetic squabbles." Tanzanite added.

"Then one day, in World War II, I was on a mission to kill a high commander of a Nazi army. I saw the internment camps and was disgusted by these cowards, condemning others to death because they were considered inferior. Looking back on it, it was very hypocritical, but I didn't care. Breaking into his home was simple. A few guards here, some dogs there, it was a bloodbath. Eventually I made it to him, he held a gun with shaky hands, and had what I assumed to be his wife behind him. He fired the first shot, I dodged it and knocked the gun out of his hands. I was about ready to cut him down, but then I heard a little scream. I turned around to see a little blonde girl run into the room, begging me not to kill her daddy. I hesitated. I never felt such a weird sense of dread before, and then I decided to let him go. I walked out of the home, and left him behind, telling him to leave the country and not to come back. Since that day, I tried to understand why I didn't kill that man, just because his daughter told him not me to. Topaz just told me to push it out of my head, but I couldn't help it. I was close to him, but I couldn't handle it. I continued my usual mission with the usual assassinations, but every time I killed a mob boss or drug lord or war criminal, I remembered that man and his family. It got to the point that I stayed out of the Vietnam War. Topaz was very disappointed in me, and that made it worse. As much as I hate to admit it, for a while he was my only…" Tourmaline said.

"Friend?" Ruby asked.

"Uhhh, yeah. Friend." Tourmaline said with a slight blush.

There was an awkward silence for a second, and then Tourmaline continued with his story.

"Anyway, after he returned from the war, we went back to killing drug lords and gangsters. The cold war meant that we couldn't get involved in too much political stuff, least we would lose our privilege as neutral mercenaries. It was boring, but I did my best to keep up good work. Eventually, I realized I was getting tired. Tired of killing, tired of fighting, and tired of humanity. That night, in your village Ruby, after I finished that mission, I would've just ended it all with Topaz." Tourmaline admitted.

"Oh… oh god." Ruby stammered.

"So there you have it. That's my story." Tourmaline finished.

"My word...I never would've guessed." Tanza said.

"I never said I was proud of my past." Tourmaline admitted.

"I can't...that's just...how!?" Pearl blurted out.

The other gems looked at Pearl.

"How could you just do all of that and run away from it!? What force drove you away from all of this...carnage!?" Pearl asked.

"...It was Ruby." Tourmaline said.

"Just her?" Pearl asked.

"She wasn't my only savior, she just started a chain of events that restored my faith in humankind. She showed me mercy, she told me about how humans really are. It was an enlightening experience, and I'm glad that she turned me around. My only regret is that I had to turn to violence with Topaz in the end. If I could have a second chance with him, I would." Tourmaline said confidently.

Pearl looked away for a second, and then back to Tourmaline.

"Your actions are unforgivable, and I think that your change is insane. But...I can kinda see where you came from. You had nothing, you experienced some very harsh things, and I can understand why you went nuts like that. One bad day can drive a person over the edge...and one good day can bring them back." Pearl said.

Tourmaline got up and gave Pearl a big hug. Pearl's eyes widened in shock and when Tourmaline released him, she walked behind Garnet, unnerved from the weird experience. Suddenly, they heard a rumble outside of the house. The gems rushed outside to see a giant three headed wolf staring up at their house. It looked much like the wolves from earlier today, but it was massive.

"It's the pack leader!" Ruby shouted.

"Gems, get ready to fi-" Garnet started.

Tourmaline leapt into the air and came rocketing down. He cleaved one of the monster's skulls in two and then hit the monster with a massive wave of energy. The creature yelped in pain and the Tourmaline leapt into the air and cleaved the monster in two. The beast's two halves fell to the beach floor and burst into dust. Tourmaline turned around and picked up a purple, square gemstone and bubbled it. He jumped up to the deck and handed it to Garnet.

"Wow...uh, good job Tourmaline." Amethyst stuttered.

"I'm not in the mood to play right now. I'm going back to my room." Tourmaline declared.

"Tourmaline wait." Ruby ordered.

Tourmaline ignored her and walked into the temple. The other gems looked at each other and then back to the temple door.

"We should've left it alone." Ruby stated.

Tourmaline punched his wall and then sat down on the floor. He could only imagine what the others were saying about him. They probably thought he was a monster again. Some sort of psychopath. It didn't matter what Pearl said, she probably said that only to lie and make sure he thought they were fine. Tourmaline turned around to see Pearl in his doorway.

"I really need to make a door too. Why don't I have much in my room?" Tourmaline asked.

"You didn't ask for much." Pearl said, "Listen, Tourmaline, for a while I couldn't view in a positive light, because of your past. But I realize now that you did what you did because you were misinformed. We're your friends Tourmaline, we don't hold it against you." Pearl explained.

Tourmaline was silent.

"Look, everyone would like to hang out with you. You wanna come back up?" Pearl offered.

"...Yeah." Tourmaline said.

"Wonderful. Now come on, let's go." Pearl ordered.

Tourmaline followed her and passed by Garnet, still holding the bubble.

"Oh hey Garnet, you gonna hang out with us?" Tourmaline asked.

"In a second, just putting this bubble away." Garnet said.

"Alright then." Tourmaline replied.

Garnet walked down the hallway, passing Tourmaline and Pearl, and making her way to the lava chamber. She let go of the bubble and watched it float up into the air and snuggle together with a pair of other bubbles. Garnet looked up to see another bubble, hidden behind one of the crystal heart's arteries. Within the bubble was a pair of broken, yellow gemstones. She frowned at them and then walked away. She turned around and looked at it one last time.

"Maybe some other day." She said to herself.

Deep within the island's jungle, amongst the rubble, a pile of boulders began to rumble. A bright red light came out through the cracks of the rocks, and then suddenly, an explosion sent the rocks flying through the air, smashing through trees and a torrent of flame came out. Obsidian let out a loud roar as the fire around her crackled and burned. She looked at herself to see that she had gained some new attire. She saw that she gained two pairs of golden bands on her biceps and wrists. She looked down to see that her shorts had grew into a long pair of pants that faded to red as the went down below the knee. Her feet were bare but she felt a line of cloth wrap around her feet.

"Not a bad change." She said to herself.

She walked through the burning jungle and towards the beach front. She looked around for some sort of sign of land, but she saw none. She couldn't even see the warp tower. She scratched her head and a worried expression grew across her face.

"I probably should've thought this out more." She said to herself, "Oh well, I'm sure there's something to do here.".

She looked down at the sand and picked a handful of it up. She walked over to a beach rock and punched a hole into it. She let the sand fall into the hole and then let a torrent of fire go into the hole. The sand had turned into mass of liquid glass, and Obsidian scooped up a handful of it. She blew into the molten liquid and the the dense puddle thinned at the middle and began to spill over her hands in a perfect circle. She focused her energy through her hands and absorbed the heat from the molten liquid. She opened her eyes to see a clear glass bowl in her hands. She placed the bowl near the impression and then turned to another rock.

"Thank goodness I have my hobbies." She said to herself.


	19. Chapter 19: The Tool

Chapter 19: The Tool

The temple was in ruins. The walls were covered in cracks and slash marks, every few yards a hole showing where a gem's body or head was forcefully pressed or flung into the hard rock. Deep within the chamber of the crystal heart, a massacre had finally stopped. Pearl was hanging over one of the veins, her body lifeless and her gem nearly shattered. Amethyst was pressed deep into a wall, her gem completely shattered. Tanza and Taz could barely move, Tanza holding Taz tightly, hoping the assailant wouldn't notice that they were still alive. Garnet was down on one knee, the gem on her left hand having a giant hole in it, leaving her gem shattered, her shades were completely destroyed with her third eye blackened and her other eye cut closed, and her body was riddled with cuts and bruises. At her feet laid a lifeless Sapphire, her hands completely crushed and her neck snapped. Her lifeless eyes stared at a wall as her neck slumped over like a slinky. Tanzanite's gem was torn out of her chest, leaving a gaping, blue, bloody hole where it used to be. Ruby was nearly crippled, her body held up high in the air by the gem's oppressor.

"Why..? ...This isn't...you." She uttered, blood trickling from the corners of her mouth.

Staring at her face, with deep green eyes, was a monstrous Tourmaline. His skin was a bright emerald green, contrasting to his black-green eyes. His broad shoulders were covered by large, red markings. His hands were a bit larger than normal and his fingers ended in large, piercing claws. His muscular body was now much larger than it originally was, and his torso was covered in rough, sharp and spiky scales. His legs were thick and what were once his grieves were gone, though the blades remained, embedded in his feet and ankles. From his lower back, a long, thick tail fell down to the floor, it's large, spiked barb clanging against the floor. His face was no longer human, only leaving a reptilian face. His mouth and nose extended from his face, making a short snout, his sharp teeth gnashing as he stared at her with his deep green eyes. From his upper back, ten barbed tentacles whipped and slashed behind him. He was an abomination.

"Tour..ma...line...do..n't…" Ruby gasped through her tears, his grip tightening around her neck.

Tourmaline opened his monstrous mouth, letting out a violent, gutural hiss from his throat. Garnet got to her feet and pushing through her pain, rushed forward towards Tourmaline, her one gauntlet formed and ready to strike him down. Tourmaline turned his attention towards her, his hiss turning into a large roar. The wild tentacles all stood still, pointing towards Garnet. She couldn't stop now, it was either him landing every one of those twisted blades, tearing her body to shreds, or her landing this one punch and hope that it's enough to take him down.

"STOP IT!" A voice shouted.

Tourmaline turned his head to see Steven running into the room. He was out at the time of his metamorphosis, so he was spared from the assault. With that one little slip up, he felt Garnet's fist collide with his face. Everything went blank, and Garnet was back in her room.

Garnet rubbed her forehead. She was used to seeing horrific visions of the future, they come and go like the minutes in the day. But this particular vision was different. This wasn't the first time she has seen this horrific fate for her and the others, she has seen it multiple times ever since the Emerald incident. The first time, she dismissed it as one of the few ridiculous possibilities that comes in every now and then, but after the second time, she started to worry. It keeps coming up, and every time it does, her intrigue and caution increases. She reached behind her neck to brush the bug off. It fluttered around and appeared in front of her, unleashing a massive hologram. It displayed Tourmaline, punching a boulder and practicing some new moves. It was the same as usual. Garnet scratched her chin and observed him carefully. The most obscure thing that he had done when he was alone was this incident where he was talking to himself. Something about, asking Tanza to a movie or something. The incident that happened yesterday has only confirmed her fears. The dark green eyes Ruby described to her sounded similar to what she saw in the monster in her visions. But she did her best to push it off as a hoax. She wouldn't let her paranoia get the better of her. Suddenly, she heard someone enter her room. She snatched the bug out of the air and turned around to see Pearl.

"Garnet, what are you doing?" Pearl asked.

"Observing Tourmaline." Garnet answered.

"Did you have that vision again?" Pearl asked.

"Yes." Garnet stated.

"Garnet, I'm concerned. The boy doesn't act like he's going to be corrupted, there are no signs of him changing, he has no reason to be angry or frustrated, so why do you keep seeing this vision of him changing into this monster?" Pearl questioned.

"I don't know Pearl. I can only see outcomes, not what sets them off. You know that, but never have I seen something repeat itself like this." Garnet explained.

"Do you think it means that it's a sure thing that will happen?" Pearl asked.

"I hope not. The most we can do is make sure nothing sets him off. One outburst or one tragedy might turn this vision into a reality. Keep an eye on him." Garnet ordered.

"Right." Pearl stated, "By the way, we found the location of the diamond eyes.".

"Good. Lets go for them now." Garnet demanded.

"Should we bring him?" Pearl asked.

"What's it look like?" Garnet asked.

"Small temple. Possibly guarded by a moderately sized gem beast. Might be bigger if it goes underground. But other than that, nothing special." Pearl said.

"You think they would guard something like that a bit better." Garnet said.

"It's more of a novelty than a weapon." Pearl brought up.

"A potentially dangerous novelty but fair enough. The two of us should be enough to handle it." Garnet declared.

"Right." Pearl agreed.

The two gems wandered off to go to the warp panel. As they traversed the walls of the temple, Pearl felt something watch her. It didn't feel hostile, but it still unnerved her nonetheless. The two of them saw the door to the beach house, but before they could make it to the door, something pounced on Garnet. Pearl turned around to see Amethyst clinging to her leader's back.

"Hello Amethyst." Garnet said calmly.

"What are you two up to?" Amethyst asked.

"We're off on a mission. Something small so you don't have to go." Pearl answered.

"After those diamond eyes? Why are you after them again?" Amethyst asked.

"Because I need a replacement artifact after you took and broke my topaz saber." Pearl stated.

"Borrowed. And it was a bad sword anyway if it couldn't even slice through rock." Amethyst argued.

"Be that as it may, it was crafted very well and it looked good with the rest of my collection. You made up for your mistake by helping me locate something interesting for my own collection of artifacts. I would make you go after it, but considering your points about the sword, I'm calling it even at this." Pearl explained.

"Whatever. What am I supposed to do then?" Amethyst asked.

"Tourmaline isn't doing much. Why don't you spend some time with him?" Pearl suggested.

"Hmm, alright." Amethyst said as she walked back into the temple.

The other gems walked through the door and walked to the warp panel. Amethyst ran through the temple, thinking about what kind of mischief they could get into together.

The rock in front of Tourmaline was a broken, cracked and miserable looking shell of it's former self. Each punch and kick Tourmaline gave it, tore off a chunk of the rock, leaving it as a stone that was borderline rubble. With one final kick, the boulder shattered, spreading small debris across the temple floor. He cracked his neck and sat down on the ground. Bringing up his past has brought up some unwanted baggage. He questioned his purpose once again. Why was he made? What was his purpose? He should've asked the gems when he had the chance, but he blew it off like a fool. Tourmaline scratched his head and looked at the destroyed rubble. Suddenly, he felt something jump on his shoulders. Immediately, he saw Amethyst's face hanging down and looking directly into his eyes.

"Hey Tourmaline!" She greeted.

Tourmaline jerked back and Amethyst tripped up from his sudden movement. She fell onto his belly in a sitting motion, rolling her head back and looking up at his face. Tourmaline brushed a bit of Amethyst's long hair and looked down at her.

"What are you doing here Amethyst?!" He asked.

"The others went out and I'm bored. You wanna do something?" Amethyst offered.

Tourmaline pushed her off, and Amethyst fell to his side.

"Not right now. I got my mind on things." Tourmaline declined.

"Thinking about what?" She asked.

"Just...me. Bringing up my past the other day made me think about things again. My origins, the reason why I exist, everything to be honest." Tourmaline explained.

"Oooooh I got ya. You were an experiment!" Amethyst blurted out.

Tourmaline quickly turned to look at Amethyst with surprised eyes.

"I'm a what!?" He shouted.

"Well, sort of. Some of the higher up gems from a bunch of centuries in the past saw the idea of the people and animals evolving through exchanging genetics and blah blah blah, science science science, started a gem breeding program to see if we could make something better than the parent gems." Amethyst explained.

"I...I don't believe it." Tourmaline stammered.

Amethyst looked at Tourmaline's distraught expression. She gave him a concerned look, got up from the ground, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, it's not much of a big deal. I mean I'm a mass produced person and I'm fine!" Amethyst said cheerfully.

"What?" He uttered, confused by the statement.

"I'll show you what I mean." Amethyst said.

The light from the warp panel illuminated the dark, abandoned canyon. Tourmaline and Amethyst arrived at the forsaken place at Amethyst's suggestion. Tourmaline looked around to see giant machines shaped like bacteriophages and uniform holes in the massive stone walls. Amethyst hopped down and looked around the place with mild concern and nostalgia.

"Here we are! This is where I was made. A kindergarten." Amethyst explained.

"That answers two questions but I still have a few more." Tourmaline said, "What is this place?".

"It's a place where gems were mass produced. Bad gems." Amethyst said.

"Then why do you say you were made here?" Tourmaline asked.

"Ha ha. But seriously, gems were made here in the hopes of making a new army for the ones at the homeworld, but Rose and the others stopped it." Amethyst explained.

"Guess they had plenty of fodder for my experiment then." Tourmaline said coldly.

"Yeah but the ones from the kindergarten were all defective. Hundred something trials and nothing worked." Amethyst stated.

"What happened to the parents?" Tourmaline asked.

"The dads were taken out and deemed worthless. You don't wanna know what happened to the moms." Amethyst explained.

"Then why did my parents seem to be successful?" Tourmaline asked.

"They weren't made in the kindergarten. Different composition I guess." Amethyst answered, "Though it looked like it didn't work. We checked out your composition in the same way they judge the gems from the kindergarten. But you weren't that special compared to them, so they deemed the experiment a failure in comparison to the other gems. And you know the rest.".

"I see." Tourmaline said.

"You seem to be taking this well." Amethyst said.

"What's done is done." Tourmaline said, "So what happened to the other gems that came from here?".

"We took care of them. Nothing special." Amethyst said.

"Alright. But what was the point of making the gems breed to make something stronger when you could literally grow an entire army?" Tourmaline asked.

"They wanted to make stronger gems." Amethyst said.

"For what purpose? If you can make an army of guys as strong as you, you don't have to worry too much about strength. What was the real purpose about my experiment?" Tourmaline asked.

"Sorry man. All I know is stronger gems. It was kept pretty secret." Amethyst explained, "Something big for the future.".

"Future?" Tourmaline asked.

Amethyst's neutral expression turned into one of mild panic.

"Uhh, nothing. Come on let's go back!" Amethyst blurted out.

"You're avoiding my question." Tourmaline said.

"It's nothing man! Now come on, lets go!" Amethyst shouted as she ran to the warp panel.

Tourmaline looked at her with skepticism, but begrudgingly decided to drop the subject and follow her back home. Amethyst jumped onto the warp panel and Tourmaline walked onto it. Amethyst did her best to avoid eye contact, and then they were absorbed by the warp panel's otherworldly radiance. Tourmaline and Amethyst floated through the warp tunnel in silence. Tourmaline thought to himself. A lot of his questions have been answered, and now only one remained: what is the true purpose of his existence? What role did he play in the future?

Tourmaline and Amethyst arrived back in their home. The other's were gathered around Pearl, who was holding an odd artifact. It was two platinum orbs that were connected together by a metal bridge on the upper area of them. Tourmaline and Amethyst walked up to her to further investigate. Pearl turned over to see the two advancing towards them.

"Oh hello! Where did you two go?" Pearl asked.

"Tourmaline had some questions and I gave him some answers." Amethyst answered.

"What kind of questions?" Garnet asked.

"Nothing too big. Those the diamond eyes?" Amethyst asked.

"Yes. Contained in these metallic balls, are a pair of mystical diamonds that can grant you a vision of anything you desire. The issue is, it can do great damage to you if the vision is too great for you to comprehend, or it can scar your mind if the answer to your question is something you wouldn't care to learn. It's a high risk, high reward style of artifact. And it's now a part of my collection." Pearl explained.

"Anything?" Tourmaline repeated.

"Indeed." Garnet stated.

"Very cool." Ruby said.

"Mind if I see them?" Tourmaline asked.

"Sure." Pearl said as she handed them to Tourmaline.

Tourmaline looked at the mysterious two orbs. He brought them up to his eye level, observing every little detail put into the containment vessel for the magical power. Suddenly, the lids of the two balls separated and revealed the true form of the diamond eyes. They were two smooth orbs of pure diamond containing two balls of white light, resembling the pupils of the eye. Tourmaline felt the white light burning directly into his own eyes, reaching around and through his brain, searching for his desires.

"Uhh Pearl? Are they supposed to do that?" Steven asked.

"Only when they sense a desire within a person. Tourmaline, just put the eyes down. Whatever questions you may have, we can answer them for you. It's not worth using the eyes, the risk is too great." Pearl said calmly.

"Easy Tourmaline, just put them down." Ruby calmly demanded.

The others slowly motioned over to Tourmaline. Tanza reached for the eyes, but Tourmaline leaped back and onto the warp panel.

"Tourmaline! What do you think you're doing!?" Garnet shouted.

"I can tell that you won't answer my question. Amethyst had no intention of explaining the experiment to me, so I'll find the answer this way!" He shouted.

"You told him!?" Ruby shouted.

"He was getting depressed over it! I couldn't leave in the dark! Well, at least not entirely in the dark." Amethyst argued.

"Tourmaline whatever question you have for us, we can answer for you. Just put the eyes down and ask us your question." Pearl offered.

Tourmaline slowly lowered the eyes and stared at Pearl and Garnet with a steadfast and adamant expression.

"Alright then. What is my purpose? Why was the intention of the experiment that created me? What were the plans for me in the future?" Tourmaline asked sternly.

Pearl and Garnet's jaws hung slack. How did Tourmaline learn about the future intentions? They had to fabricate something fast. The intentions of the experiment were hidden even to them. But Tourmaline was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to learn about his origins, and they couldn't let him do that.

"The experiment...was to...determine if it was possible for gems to breed with the inhabitants of earth!" Garnet blurted out.

"Uhh, haha yes! Which is why...Rose knew that she could have a baby with Greg and have Steven! That was the point of the experiment! We simply replicated human anatomy within ourselves because we couldn't grab humans to experiment with!" Pearl fumbled.

"And make something stronger than the kindergarten gems!" Amethyst added.

Tourmaline was silent. Looking down at the floor with a thoughtful expression on his face. His eyes turned back to Pearl and Garnet, a new sense of frustration and determination within them.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid!?" He shouted.

He brought the diamond eyes back to his eye level and they opened up. Garnet flung her arm back and flung it forward, the arm stretching wide and long, her hand reaching for the eyes.

"What is the reason for my existence!? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO IN THE FUTURE!?" He shouted.

Garnet's hand was about to grab the eyes out of his hands, but suddenly, a burst of white light came from the platinum balls, repelling her hand back. The white light that entered Tourmaline's eyes turned into thick beams that blasted Tourmaline's eyes with their forbidden magic. The intense light made it feel like Tourmaline's skull was melting from the inside out, boiling his blood and steaming his brain to mush. Then the eyes abruptly shut, cutting off the light, and Tourmaline fell backwards. Tanza and Ruby were the first to rush to his side, the others quickly following behind them. Ruby picked up Tourmaline's lifeless body. His once light green eyes were now a blank space of pure, almost luminescent light. His expression was one of awe, with his mouth slightly ajar.

"Tourmaline! Wake up!" Ruby demanded.

"Ruby, stop it!" Pearl demanded, "It's too late now! He made the choice to see the truth through the diamond eyes. It's up to him to power through it." Pearl explained.

Ruby looked at Tourmaline with a distraught expression on her face. Tanza slid her hands beneath Tourmaline's knees and back, lifting him out of Ruby's arms, and walking him over to the couch. Tanza put him down on the couch, and sat next to him, looking at his ghostly face. The others moved over to the couch area, looking down at Tourmaline with great concern.

"Why couldn't you just tell him the truth?" Sapphire asked.

"Because we don't know the truth." Garnet said.

"All we know that there was supposed to be some plan with the experimental children like him in the future, and that's it. We don't know what he is supposed to do, we don't even know what day or even year it's supposed to happen in." Pearl elaborated.

"So he's gonna learn something even we don't know." Amethyst stated.

"What is this vision like?" Tanza asked.

"Gems have described it as being placed into another dimension, a place where they can see what situation or person or location triggers them to learn the answer to their question." Pearl explained.

"So it's like time travel?" Sapphire asked.

"Not really, because no paradoxes have occurred because of it." Pearl continued, "The people have interacted with themselves and others in the past, but it has never affected the present.".

"It still sounds dangerous." Taz stated.

"It is." Pearl reassured.

The gems all looked down at Tourmaline, concerned for his well being and wondering what truth he is about to witness.

Tourmaline was in a field of white. He looked down to see the ground as a layer of white. He looked up to see nothing but white. He couldn't find anything that stood out from the vast void. He started to walk forward, hoping to find something, anything to let him know where he was.

"So you have called upon the power of the diamond eyes?" A hollow, reverberating voice asked.

Tourmaline turned around to see nothing. He looked all around to see where the source of the voice came from, but there was no one around him.

"Show yourself!" Tourmaline demanded.

"Such an aggressive soul." A woman's voice said, in the same tone as the previous one.

"A reckless one as well. To use the diamond eyes whilst knowing the possible consequences, such bravado is to be admired." A familiar man's voice said, in the same tone as the last two.

"Enough discussion. We are wasting his time. It is time to reveal the truth to him." A woman's angelic, echoing voice demanded.

Tourmaline turned forward one last time to see four figures fade into the white reality. Tourmaline stared at them in disbelief. One of the beings looked like his father Jade, but he was completely white. There was no color to him, from his clothes, to his skin, to even the pupils in his eyes. Next to him was a being who looked like Ruby, also completely white. Then there was Topaz, wearing a tired expression on his white face, just like the one he wore moments before he killed himself in front of him. Finally, there was an unfamiliar woman. Her appearance was that of a young, mildly curvy woman. Her eyes were large and fierce. Her gaze pierced through Tourmaline like a knife. Her hair was short and wavy, each solid strand matched up in a perfect line that gently touched the back of her shoulders. Her attire was rather odd. She wore a long shirt that had uniform holes traveling down her arms. It was hard for Tourmaline to tell if they were actually cut out, or that they were simply patterns in her clothes, the white forms they undertook made it hard to distinguish that. On her chest was a large diamond pattern, and her hands were concealed by gloves. Her legs were covered by a strange pair of pants. They reached down to her ankles and gripped her body tightly, but her hips were left, presumably, uncovered. Most of her skin on her right hip however, was obscured by her gem. It was in an oval shape, cut out like a perfect stone found in a jewelry store. Lastly, her feet were just covered by some sort of plastic or hard substance. The doppelganger of Jade was the first to speak.

"Son of Jade and Aquamarine, you search for the truth of your origins?" He asked.

"I...yes, but who are you? Why do you look like my friends and family?" Tourmaline asked.

"We are the diamond eyes. We deliver the truth to all who see them. We have no real form, so we have decided to take the form of those who you find the most appealing in your life." The Ruby clone explained.

"Then why is that one Topaz, and who are you supposed to be?" Tourmaline asked.

"Your words do not reflect your feelings towards him." The Topaz clone said.

"And the form I take is the one you must seek to find the answer to your question." The mystery woman said.

"Seek the answer? Aren't you just gonna tell me the answer anyway?" Tourmaline asked.

"We merely give you the chance to seek out the answer to your question. The rest is up to you." White Jade said.

"Alright. So what do I have to do?" Tourmaline asked.

"Though our eyes appear closed, we see all that has been, and all that will be. Every war, every birth, every discovery, to the greatest mountains, to the smallest atom. With our power, we can place you into any time, and place." They mystery woman explained.

"Time travel, eh?" Tourmaline stated.

"Not exactly. What we make is an alternate reality for you to explore. The events that happen while you are in there shall have no repercussions for your present. Though what we show you is the absolute truth." Topaz explained.

"You've heard enough now." Ruby stated.

A mysterious light enveloped Tourmaline. He looked down to see the white of the floor wrapping around his legs. He turned to face the white gems, each with the same dead expression on their faces. The mystery gem walked over to Tourmaline as the white continued to swallow him up.

"Find the gem that looks like me. She's the one who has the knowledge you seek. Her name is Feldspar." The mystery woman ordered.

With that, Tourmaline was completely swallowed up by the white. He felt his body tear apart at the seams. Skin, flesh, bone, cells, and then atoms were torn asunder by the white. Tourmaline screamed out in pain, and then everything went black.

Suddenly, Tourmaline woke up from his travel. He looked to see that he was sitting down near what appeared to be the entrance of some sort of canyon. The sky was concealed by a wall of thick grey clouds, and there were no signs of any plantlife. He heard something coming deep within the canyon, the sound of rock being carved away. Tourmaline got up and walked into the cavern, drawn to the sound, thinking that it was the path he had to take. As he walked through the dark and desolate place, the sounds grew louder and louder. Eventually, he saw some sort of light coming from around the corner of the canyon's wall. Cautiously, he dashed behind a rock near the corner of the opposite wall, and peaked over to see what the source of the light and sound was. With one glance he could tell exactly where he was. He was at the kindergarten Amethyst showed him, and it was active. The large, virus-like machines scaled the walls of the canyon, carving out vaguely human shapes and pulling them out of the walls. What appeared to be other gems watched from the ground, analyzing each pulled out slab of rock with some sort of light ray.

"_This place? Why here? What does this place have to do with-_" Tourmaline thought to himself.

His eye caught something familiar. Walking in the middle of the canyon was the one he had to seek out. It was Feldspar, walking with a black and green gem with hair like a square turned on it's side. In color, he could see her true form. Her hair was very light brown, and her skin was grey. The holes on her shirt sleeves were now shown to be pink circles, contrasting the rest of the shirt's light black color. Her pants were a light blueish green, and her shoes were a plain grey. The cuts near her hips were real, showing her grey gem. She walked deeper into the canyon, the other gem following her as they talked. Tourmaline knew he had to get to her, but he couldn't afford to be caught by any of the workers. Using his cunning wit, he rushed against the canyon wall, using the noise of the drills to drown out his steps. He slid under an inactive drill, and rolled into a hole. He hid in the shadows as two workers walked past him. Tourmaline peeked his head outside to see the pair of drones walking in the opposite direction, and he continued on his path. He could see Feldspar as he continued to walk through the canyon, ducking behind rocks and hiding in holes when he had to. Suddenly, Feldspar turned around as Tourmaline was in the middle of running to another rock. She managed to catch a glimpse of his leg, but not much else. She squinted her eyes as she looked behind her. Tourmaline clung to the back of the rock, doing his best to keep quiet. He knew she saw.

"_Shit!_" He thought to himself.

The other gem turned to Feldspar and looked up to her.

"Is there something wrong Feldspar?" The green gem asked.

"I could've sworn I saw something over there." Feldspar said in a stern tone.

"It must have been a worker." The green gem suggested.

"I'm not so sure." Feldspar argued.

"You're being paranoid. The cataclysm incident must have had more of an impact on you than you realize." The green one said.

Feldspar heaved a sigh and turned around.

"Maybe you're right." She agreed.

The two continued on their way and Tourmaline peeked from behind the rock to see the two leaving. He let a relieved sigh leave his throat.

"_That was too close._" He thought to himself.

Tourmaline continued to follow them until they made it to some sort of door in the canyon wall. Feldspar placed her hand on the door and it spit in two, letting the two of them in. Tourmaline rushed to the door, but it closed before he could reach it, and he slammed his face against it. He shook his head and tried to repeat her actions, but with no result. Tourmaline growled in frustration, looking at the door from every angle. As he looked at the door, in the corner of his eye he saw another gem walking towards him. He ducked behind a large rock and peered over to see her. Suddenly, Tourmaline got an idea. He grimaced at the thought of it, but he had no choice. A light glowed around his body, and shrunk down in large size. He turned into a small green mouse, his gems stuck on his tiny feet. He looked over to see the now giant gem walking to the door. He scampered around the rock and made it behind her great heels.

She was a tall gem. Compared her to the door, she was probably about Garnet's height. Her heels were grey with black stripes, and her legs were uncovered, showing off her russet skin. She wore something that resembled a one piece swimsuit that cut off near her upper thighs, the bottom being bright orange and fading to black near the top. Her hair was long and dark red, reaching her upper back. Under her left forearm, he could see a long orange gem running down it in a perfect, thin rectangle. Tourmaline couldn't get a good view of her face yet, but he could tell that she was a beautiful looking gem. The new gem placed her hand on the door, and it opened for her. Tourmaline followed close behind her as they entered Feldspar's lair. There wasn't much light in the room, save from a few mysterious machines. In the center of the room was a desk, littered with tablets covered in gem text. Feldspar and the green gem turned to see their guest. As they began to talk, Tourmaline ran to one of the corners of the room near the desk to get a good look of all of them. His guess was right; the mystery gem was very beautiful. A stern expression on her face, thin lips, dark orange eyes and a small nose.

"Greetings Feldspar, Peridot." She spoke.

"What do you want Axinite?" Feldspar said in a defensive tone.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we're shutting down the kindergarten." Axinite said.

"What, why!?" Feldspar shouted.

"The cataclysm has left us with little resources, and Rose and her peons have learned about the planet's fate. We don't have the power to suppress them. So for now, we leave." Axinite said.

"But...but we can grow more soldiers! Surely we'll have enough time to-"

"Where do you think they're advancing to? I came to warn you. If circumstances were a bit different I think we could fight them, but because of your little experiment, we're out one-hundred gems." Axinite stated.

Tourmaline looked up with great interest. It seems he is about to learn the truth.

"Do not speak about my project like that. Project Birth is a success! It took a lot of trial and error but we finally have a perfect gem, ready to be born in a matter of days!" Feldspar argued.

"We. Don't. Have. The time." Axinite said in an annoyed tone.

"We don't have the time for what could be the greatest discovery in gem genetics? The boy has a structure as complex as the gems we picked from our little kindergarten, and he's only an infant! The power he'll have when he fully matures will be incredible! It might even be enough to put down Rose and her band of misfits!" Feldspar exclaimed.

"And how long would it take for him to mature?" Axinite asked.

"Well...Peridot, the data." Feldspar requested.

Peridot's fingers separated and formed a screen with more text and foreign images.

"Estimated time is Five-hundred and eighty-three years." Peridot relayed.

"Too long." Axinite stated.

"We can take the child back home with us!" Feldspar suggested.

"Not an option. Aquamarine has been missing from the breeding pool since yesterday." Axinite explained.

"She left!?" Axinite exclaimed.

"Yes. Rose visited her after the war. Must have told her about Jade and that shook her up. All these thoughts about how we will treat her child must have spooked her away." Axinite proclaimed.

"Damn that Rose!" Feldspar yelled.

"I've wasted enough time here." Axinite said coldly as she turned away, "Leave now or die.".

As Axinite walked out of the chamber, Feldspar and Peridot followed close behind, with Feldspar still yelling at Axinite. The room was silent, and then Tourmaline changed back into his normal form. He stretched his body out, and then ran over to the desk. Each tablet he picked up contained nothing but gibberish to him.

"_Come on! There has to be something here I can read!_" He shouted in his head.

He stared at one of the tablets, and saw the text rearrange itself into something that he could read. Tourmaline stared in amazement at the feat.

"_Are the diamond eyes' helping me?_"

Disregarding that idea, Tourmaline rushed through all of the texts. From reports on the kindergarten's progress, to the reports of failed experiments in Project Birth, he was finding nothing. After tossing a dozen files to the floor, Tourmaline found one file that had what he wanted. It read "Test 50: Subject, Aquamarine". He started to read the file.

_Month 1, Day 1: The impregnation appeared to be successful. Jade and Aquamarine have managed to form perfect human male and female genitalia, and the process appeared to have gone smoothly. They even requested to try it a few more times just to be safe. Who am I to deny my subjects some mindless gratification? _

_The other gems may have been failures, but they were kindergarten grown, low-class trash. Guess all they are good for is grunt work. Worthless trash. However Jade and Aquamarine were born on our home planet, they are of pure blood. To voluntarily undergo this process is quite admirable . Let's just hope they have what it takes to give results._

_Month 2, Day 1: Happy to report that the development of the fetus has begun. The scans have shown that there are no complications in it's form. Yet. We've reached this phase numerous times before, I know better than to jump to conclusions. _

_Month 3, Day 1: The development of the unborn gem is going smoothly. Finally we have some real progress in this experiment. The higher ups were starting to bitch at me for wasting resources, though I never understood why. I was just sacrificing a few dozen pawns here and there, nothing we can't tear out of earth if we need to replace them. Guess they wanted more for a perfect gem. Well screw them. Jade and Aquamarine's child will be strong enough to ravage an entire planet if my calculations are correct. _

_Month 4, Day 1: Scans of the fetus have shown that it's make up is similar to that of gems we have grown in the kindergarten. Disconcerting, but the figure is still young. More than likely the gem will grow much like human children do, and the make up will be much greater by then. _

_Month 5, Day 19: The injection was a success. Aquamarine protested against it at first, but after a bit of coaxing and lying, she finally let it happen. This sleeper chemical will come in handy when it finally kicks in. A little something to trigger when the gem has finally matures. With this, his mind will be ours. A perfect tool to serve our purposes. The chemical may have been ineffective on the grunt gems, but it's make up will be far above them by that point. He's going to evolve into the new species of gem I have dreamed about for centuries._

_Month 6, Day 14: We inspected the fetus yet again, and have found that most of the genetics have come from Jade. Very interesting to see another male oriented gem to be made from this, we don't really have a lot of those around here, even at our home world. Aquamarine seems to be happy that he has something he can relate with his father. Rose must be rubbing off on her. _

_Month 7, Day 15: Lapis Lazuli has come to visit Aquamarine. Guess they're friends or something. She seemed upset, knowing that her friend will die with the birth, but she has hopes to look after Jade and the child for them. It won't do. We might have to take care of her if she starts to have some sort of effect on the kid. We want a tool, not a free spirit._

_Month 8, Day 26: The forces are about to march on the great beast we have dubbed the cataclysm. Jade is leading a faction along with Rose and the other gems. The fear for her loved one is putting Aquamarine in a lot of stress. We're doing our best to calm her down, but not much is helping. The child must be kept in a stasis of calm. I would drug her, but it might have some sort of effect on the child. Why is it at the last bit of trek that everything has to go wrong?_

_Month 8, Day 29: Jade has been confirmed dead. Scumbags didn't even decide to grab what was left of his gem. Now it's up to my staff to keep the news away from Aquamarine. She can't know. I have no idea what she'll do if she finds out the truth. We're so very close. I won't let anything stop the creation of this gem. He will be my greatest work. Much better than the prototype from the last experiment. _

Tourmaline put down the book in shock. He stared ahead at nothing as he let all the information sink in. He was made to be a tool? A tool for what? It answered one question but raised so many more. His daze was broken by a sharp pain in his back. Before he could react, he was pulled back and through the now open doorway. Tourmaline flew back and slammed face first against the canyon wall as whatever sunk into his back was violently torn out. Tourmaline turned to see Feldspar and Axinite. In Axinite's hands was a long chain with a large knife attached to the end of it. In Feldspar's right hand, she was holding a large, curved dagger.

"Seems that Rose has a new follower." Axinite declared.

"Indeed. Let's carve him up and send him to Rose as an example of what's to come to her and her crew." Feldspar suggested.

Tourmaline summoned his large grieves and started to build up a wave of energy within them. Tourmaline kicked forward and sent a wave of energy rushing towards the two of them. Feldspar and Axinite stared in awe at the great wave of energy. As the wave touched them, a large explosion of white came from the blast. Reality around Tourmaline had torn itself apart, and within seconds, he was back in the white void. He looked around to see if there was any sign of the gems or the world he was in, but found nothing. From the void, the diamond eyes' personas appeared before Tourmaline.

"So now you know the truth." The Feldspar doppelganger said.

"I'm just a tool to be used by other gems." Tourmaline said wearily, "But it's bullcrap! I am my own person!".

"Are you sure about that? You have lost yourself many times before." The Ruby clone said.

"Shut up!" Tourmaline yelled.

"You have lost control before, and reverted to what you were supposed to be." The Topaz clone added.

"Enough! Take me out of this place!" Tourmaline demanded.

"No. You have one more quest to undertake. You want to know what happens in the future, don't you?" White Jade asked.

"I...no. I mean yes. I don't know." Tourmaline stammered.

"You asked us this question, and you shall receive your answer." White Jade said.

With that, the void once again swallowed Tourmaline. Tourmaline felt the same violent force tear him apart, and then it all turned black once again.

Tourmaline woke up behind some building. As he got up, he recognized the smell of the sea and discarded donuts. He was back at Beach City, right behind the Big Donut. He scratched his head and wondered why he was sent here of all places, but a sense of relief welled up in his body when he realized that the future must not have changed for him. He exited the alley way and walked along the sandy beach. As he moved, he looked up to see the temple. He rushed forward and leapt high into the air, landing on the patio. He opened the door and his heart sunk to his shoes. The inside of the house was destroyed. Furniture was broken, floorboards were smashed, and the door to the temple was obscured by a giant rock. He looked up to see a gaping hole in the ceiling where the rock must have fallen from.

"_What happened here? Where is everyone?" _He asked himself.

Suddenly, he sensed something coming from behind him. He turned to see a large rock flying towards him. He jumped up and the rock smashed the doorway, making a new hole in the house. Tourmaline fell to the beach as he looked up to see his assailant. It was a young gem with golden pigtails using what appeared to be telekinesis to lift up a few large rocks. It was his young friend Topaz.

"Taz? What are you-" Tourmaline started.

Without saying a word, she flung her rocks at Tourmaline in unison. Tourmaline dodged the first two and smashed the second one. Taz used her psychic powers to grab a hold of Tourmaline. She flung him against the plateau's wall, and then down to the beach. She pulled him towards her, and it was then that she stopped her attack. Tourmaline floated there, staring down into Topaz's big eyes.

"Tourmaline?" She said.

"Who else could it be?" He responded.

Tourmaline felt his body be freed from the psychic force and he fell to the ground on his feet. Taz hugged him as tight as she could, and Tourmaline hugged her back.

"What's gotten into you? You're a little more happy to see me than usual." Tourmaline laughed.

"Five years." Taz blurted out.

"What?"

"It's been five years since we last saw you Tourmaline. We thought we lost you." Taz said, choking back tears.

"What!? What are you talking about!?" Tourmaline exclaimed.

Taz freed Tourmaline from her hug and started walking away.

"Follow me. I'll tell you everything." Taz offered.

Tourmaline did as she said and the two walked next to each other down the beach. The sun began to set, and the sky was a brilliant pink.

"Five years ago, something came to the temple. Something that appeared to be you staggered into the temple and fell to the ground in pain. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl were in the temple at the time, and Steven was off to do something with that Connie girl, so it was just us to see it happen. It transformed before our very eyes, and attacked us. We couldn't fight with our usual strength, we didn't want to hurt it because we thought that...it wasn't too late, like last time. It forced us into the temple and we fought at the crystal heart. I was knocked out early on, so I can't tell you much else." Taz recollected.

Tourmaline was silent. His eyes bulged and his lip quivered.

"_That is what I'm supposed to do?_" He thought to himself.

"B-But it's okay now! You're alive! We only lost two that day instead of three." Taz said.

"Lost two?" Tourmaline asked.

"Tanzanite and Sapphire died there. The others almost died too, but something happened." Taz answered.

Tourmaline felt his soul shatter. He kills his friends. He destroys what he holds most dear. That is his future.

"Oh, we're here." Taz declared.

Taz ran ahead of Tourmaline and towards Greg's car wash. The gate was open, and Taz excitedly rushed inside. Tourmaline slowly walked over and was met with his old friends. Most of them anyway. He was met with the shocked eyes of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Ruby, Tanza and an older Steven. They all stared at Tourmaline, and he stared back. Each and everyone of them looked the same except for the older Steven, and Garnet missing an arm. Ruby was the first to walk up to him.

"Is it really you?" She asked.

Tourmaline nodded, and Ruby wrapped her arms around him. She sobbed lightly, and then the other gems followed her example. Everyone of them gathered around Tourmaline and embraced him, with Tanza kissing Tourmaline's cheek. Garnet could only place a hand on his shoulder. They all let him go and Tourmaline turned to Garnet.

"Garnet...what happened to your arm?" Tourmaline asked.

"An injury, from when you...no, whatever had the gall to impersonate you attacked the temple." Garnet answered.

"It killed Tanzanite and Sapphire...it crippled you." Tourmaline said with somber disbelief.

"But it didn't kill all of us." Amethyst said.

"And we are still able to defend earth." Pearl added.

"So...you killed it?" Tourmaline asked.

"No. We had to run away." Garnet admitted, "It had us in checkmate, but Steven came rushing in and distracted it. I was able to knock it away from the others and escape with their lives. I sealed the temple off with a boulder, and that's the last we've seen of it.".

"We've been bunking with Greg ever since." Ruby added.

"This...this is wrong. This is all wrong!" Tourmaline shouted.

"Where did you go Tourmaline?" Taz asked.

Tourmaline looked down at Taz.

"Where did you go five years ago." Taz repeated.

Tourmaline felt his throat swell up. He wanted to puke, but there was nothing in him. He could only shed a few tears at his epiphany. Tanza placed her hand on Taz's shoulder.

"Taz, stop it. I don't know what happened to Tourmaline those five years ago, but we shouldn't blame him now for what happened." Tanza said.

Tourmaline fell to his knees and stared at the ground. He felt two hands touch his shoulders. He looked to his left to see Steven. He looked to his right to see Tanza.

"Come on Tourmaline, there's not much you can do with that. Let's just hang out together. Like old times." Steven requested.

Tourmaline nodded his head in agreement, and walked inside with the others.

At night, all the gems were gathered around the benches of the car wash where people waited to watch their car go through the washing tunnel. Amethyst slept on Garnet and Pearl's laps, while Taz slept on Tanza, and Ruby slept near Tourmaline, who was sitting next to Tanza. Steven slept in his dad's van with his father. Everyone was peacefully at sleep, except for Tourmaline. He just stared ahead at the darkness. The thoughts of what the others had told him had scarred his mind. He grew up to kill his friends and drive the rest of them away from their home. He grew up to be a monster, something that he always feared he was. The images of Tanzanite and Sapphire flooded his mind. Their warm smiles, their caring nature, and he took their lives away. And he was still alive. Tourmaline's sadness turned into pure rage. He grit his teeth so tightly they were on the verge of cracking, he gripped his fists until he felt his own fingernails cutting through the palms of his hands. He wanted to fight. Carefully, he stood up and propped Ruby against Tanza. He quietly walked out of the car wash and into the night. Before he could make it to the beach, he heard Greg's van open up and saw Steven walking out of it.

"Tourmaline? Where are you going?" Steven said groggily before waking up, "Oh...oh no. No no no! You are not going to the temple!".

"Steven, quiet! I have to go!" Tourmaline insisted.

"No you don't! You'll get yourself killed!" Steven assured.

"Yes I do!" Tourmaline shouted, "Listen, Steven. I'm going to tell you something that you won't believe.".

"Go on." Steven said.

"I'm not really the Tourmaline that should be here. I used an artifact called the diamond eyes to see my fate. And my fate...is to become what you saw in the temple." Tourmaline explained.

Steven's jaw went slack.

"No way." He uttered, "So that means…".

"Yes, I know. But if I can see me, maybe I can find out why I transformed into that thing! I can stop all of this from happening in our time!" Tourmaline declared, "But I need to do this alone!".

"But...you just got here." Steven said solemnly.

"And if I don't do this, I won't be there for you or the others in my time. I need to learn the truth." Tourmaline insisted.

"...Okay." Steven surrendered.

"Thank you." Tourmaline said.

Tourmaline ran off to the temple, with Steven watching him as he ran. Tourmaline made it to the temple and jumped into the destroyed doorway. He ran to the boulder and using all of his strength, pushed it away from the temple doorway. His gems glowed, and the door to the temple opened. He walked in with great caution. Everything seemed the same, but his evil self could be anywhere. He recalled the last fight with the monster took place near the crystal heart, so he rushed through the tunnels to make it there first. Eventually, he made it to the heart, but it wasn't' what it used to be. The once ruby red heart was now plagued with green splotches, constricted in some mysterious material, and a few of it's arteries were missing. Tourmaline walked in and stared up at the great thing. Such destruction he caused, he knew he had to learn the truth.

"What do you think you are doing here?" He heard his own voice say in a calm, monstrous tone.

Tourmaline looked up to see the tendrils around the heart unwind, and show the true monster of the temple. He looked at Tourmaline with the same dark green eyes he gets when he gets angry, and heaved a sigh. The reptilian creature appeared to still be attached to the heart, as the tentacles connected to his back extended up to the heart.

"It seems I have finally gone mad, considering I'm seeing a shadow of my former self." The monster Tourmaline said.

"You can talk?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes. At first the chemical drove me to madness and act like one of those corrupted gems, but after a few hours, I regained my senses...and then I lost them for another few hours after I saw what I had done." The monster explained.

"Chemical? You mean that fail safe that Feldspar put inside of us?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes. Turns out I was right around the corner to reaching that prime maturity she had alluded to. I wasn't expecting that." The monster continued.

"How do you know Feldspar?" Tourmaline continued.

"From our last great adventure. If I knew better, I would've kept her alive. At least long enough to get that damn chemical out of me." The monster said wearily.

"When was that? And I thought it wasn't supposed to corrupt us because we were different." Tourmaline stated.

"Clearly she was wrong. Or at least half wrong. And I do not remember. I have remained in this chamber ever since that day. Eons could've passed on and I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference." The monster said.

"Why are you answering all my questions like this?" Tourmaline asked.

"Because you're the only person who had decided to keep me company since that day. The least I can do is answer a few simple questions." The monster said.

"Hate to bring this happy conversation to a close, but I know all that I need to now. And I think it's time that I give you a little payback for what you've done to our friends!" Tourmaline shouted.

The monster Tourmaline sighed.

"You want redemption so bad you're willing to fight me?" He asked.

Tourmaline nodded.

"...Then I can't let you live." He stated.

The tentacles connected to the heart tore away, causing the heart to bleed. Green puss leaked out of the heart and down the hole underneath it. The monster flung his tentacles in a frantic frenzy and stared Tourmaline down with cruel and cold eyes.

"All this time I have been alone. All my life I have done nothing but fight. Even though the cost was high, I greatly appreciated the fact that I never had to fight again. But it seems I was wrong." The monster said.

Tourmaline rushed forward and punched the monster square in it's snout. It's head flung back and Tourmaline followed up by slamming his knee into his stomach. His head came back forward as he keeled over in pain. Tourmaline took his right elbow and slammed in as hard as he could down on the back of the monster's neck, causing a loud crack to echo throughout the temple. Tourmaline looked up to see the tentacles sharp spikes coming crashing down towards him. Tourmaline flipped backwards, dodging the attack. He looked to see the monster moving back up. A faint smile was spreading on his face. Another one of his tentacles came flying towards Tourmaline, but he dodged out of the way and cut it off of him. The wrangling thing writhed on the floor and Tourmaline ran back towards his monstrous self. He kicked it in the face as hard as he could, causing the monster's head to move to the side and a stream of green blood to fly out of the newly made wound. Tourmaline landed to the side of the monster and delivered one spinning roundhouse to the monster's ribs, slicing another wound. The monster just chuckled, and then that chuckle erupted into a loud gaffaw. He used his clawed hands to dig deeper into his freshly made wounds. Tourmaline stared in disgust at the bizarre act.

"Heh heh heh heh, HWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This battle is getting me excited! This feeling, this surge, this rush of power! I remember it from that day! The rush of violence is amazing, don't you agree?" The monster exclaimed.

Tourmaline just gave him the coldest stare he could muster. The monster's excited expression turned to one of fear.

"Ugh...what's with this guy? If he were me, he would know to be hyped up for a real battle like this. He can't be me, but he looks like the old me. Who are you...why do you look like the me I used to be!?" The monster shouted.

With that, the monster himself rushed towards Tourmaline. Tourmaline dodged his claw strikes, but then one of the creature's tentacles came crashing down, and impaled Tourmaline's chest. His own green blood oozed out as he was held in place. Before the monster could cut his throat, Tourmaline grabbed his arm, and using his other free hand, grabbed the monster's face, sticking his index finger into it's eye. The creature roared out in pain, but continued to press through, gearing the rest of his tentacles to skewer Tourmaline. He was about to unleash his killing blow, but for some reason, he couldn't move his tentacles. Try as he might, they wouldn't budge. Tourmaline saw a bright light flash from behind the monster, and then said light slammed into it's back, followed by another projectile. A whip came from the background and wrangled up the tentacles in one swoop, pulling them back in one great bunch. A shadowy figure leaped up and slashed them all with one sword, and threw the other one to slice the one stuck in Tourmaline. Tourmaline fell to the side and then saw Tanza glide in and kick the monster to the wall. It bounced off of it and fell to the floor. Tourmaline looked up to see Tanza, and then saw the other gems come to her.

"What are you all doing here?" Tourmaline asked.

"Saving you." Ruby declared.

"But...this is my fight...I told Steven-"

"I had to tell them Tourmaline." Steven admitted.

"We know what is going on." Pearl said.

"And we don't care." Amethyst added.

"You're our friend Tourmaline, and we'll help you no matter what." Garnet stated.

"On a side note, did you get the information you needed?" Taz asked.

"He was vague about it, but yeah." Tourmaline said.

The monster painfully raised itself from the ground.

"Nmf...please stop...just leave me alone...I've already spilled enough innocent blood...I don't want to do it anymore…" The monster wheezed.

The others stared at him with a new sense of pity.

"Tch, what does Feldspar know? Damn crone wanted a tool so bad she had to drug it. And it didn't even work out for her!" It yelled, "Heh...ehehehehehe...it's too funny. She's the reason my life was so messed up...and I killed her back then...and it turned out to be my greatest mistake! That sense of self gratification was bullshit! All it has done for me is turn me into a freak!".

"Okay that's enough." Garnet said as she geared her gauntlet towards the beast.

Tourmaline and Pearl charged up their attacks. Ruby leaped into the air and stabbed the monster with her swords, pinning it to the ground. Tanza came rushing in and stomped on the blades, driving them further into the monster. Taz used her telekinesis to make sure the blades wouldn't move. Then Amethyst summoned another whip, swinging them both and wrapping them around the beasts arms. With that, each of the crystal gems and Tourmaline unleashed their attacks on the great monster, and it was engulfed in a sea of color and energy. As the dust settled, the gems could see the monster's lifeless body. Taz let go of the blades, and then suddenly, the monster stood up back to his feet, the hilts of the swords tearing through him. The gems all stared in disbelief for a second, until they realized that it was on the verge of dying anyways.

"Yes...peace at last. True peace...Tourmaline. We both desire peace...make sure you get it without such...a steep cost." The monster uttered.

With that, the beast burst into a million tiny chunks, leaving two large green slabs behind. The gems gathered around the gems, with Tourmaline staying behind. Steven picked up the gems, and they shattered in his hands. From those chunks, they faded to dust and blew away. They all faced Tourmaline, who had a stern, determined expression on his face. He knew what he had to do. He knew who had had to find. At last he knew how to put an end to his turmoil. He just had to wait for the right moments to happen.

"So what now Tourmaline?" They all said in unison, with the diamond eyes' voice.

The chamber of the temple has faded away and everything returned to white. This time, even the body doubles were absent.

"What will you do now that you know the truth? Was it too much for you? Does it hurt?" The multiple voices asked.

"It hurts...but it was something I needed to know." Tourmaline stated.

"If it hurts, we can make you forget...for a price." The voices offered.

"No. I know what has to be done now. Take me back to my body." Tourmaline requested.

"Very well. Your future is not set in stone, change it as you please." The voices said.

With that, everything went black.

The gems stared at Tourmaline, still worried for his well being. It had been three hours since he used the glasses, and he still retained that look. Garnet had her gauntlets out, ready to smash the glasses if she needed too. Then, when Tanza placed a hand on Tourmaline's forehead, the ghostly light from his eyes faded into his normal green eyes. Tanza moved her hand back and Tourmaline sat up. He looked to see all the gems staring at him.

"How long was I out?" Tourmaline asked.

"Three hours." Tanzanite answered.

Garnet put her gauntlets away and placed her hands on Tourmaline's shoulders.

"Tourmaline. I want you to tell me everything you saw in there." Garnet requested.

Tourmaline was silent and gently took her hands off of him.

"I'm not saying a word." Tourmaline stated.

The others gasped and Garnet's concerned expression turned to an annoyed frown.

"Tourmaline. Tell me. Now." She demanded.

"I don't have to tell you anything. I know the truth now. I know what is going to happen in my future. I sort of know what events are going to trigger them. I just need to prevent some of them from happening." Tourmaline explained.

"Prevent them? What are you talking about?" Sapphire asked.

"That's all I'm saying. You won't believe me otherwise." Tourmaline said.

"Oh come on Tourmaline! Just spill it already!" Amethyst demanded.

"Guys guys guys! Stop fighting! That's Tourmaline's personal business he's talking about, and if he doesn't want to share it, we have to respect that. Can't we just be happy that he's here and safe and not a vegetable?" Steven suggested.

Taz squeezed her way through Garnet and Pearl and sat next to Tourmaline.

"Yes we can." She agreed.

Tourmaline fell back and landed on Tanza's lap. He looked up to see her smiling face, and shot a smile back to her. The others relaxed on the couch and Tourmaline was happy once again.

"_I have to stop that future from becoming my true future. I can't lose this at any cost._" Tourmaline thought to himself.


	20. Chapter 20: The Golem

Chapter 20: The Golem

The warp panel lit up the dark house. The gems had gone off on a mission earlier that afternoon, though there were a few complications. Tourmaline was shirtless, and Steven had Tourmaline's shirt stuck to the front of his shirt. Garnet held a pair of jagged, neon keys in her hand. They were the spoils from today's mission. Tourmaline was being chewed out by his friends while Steven was receiving a light scolding. Pearl was talking to Steven with Garnet and Amethyst adding a comment every now and then, while there was no mercy for Tourmaline.

"I honestly can't believe you!" Ruby shouted.

"Are we still on about this? Cause I think I said sorry enough after the fourth time." Tourmaline said blandly.

"You could've gotten yourself killed!" Sapphire added.

"Both of you know that wouldn't happen." Tourmaline assured.

"Well what about Steven, huh? He was on your back!" Ruby suggested angrily.

"Yeah, I knew and thus I didn't do anything I thought we get us both caught. And how is that my fault?" Tourmaline asked.

"You're the one who got him stuck on your back by messing with that weird sap!" Tanza shouted.

"He was the one messing with it first!" Tourmaline retorted.

"And that's an excuse to get him stuck to you?" Tanzanite asked.

"Well excuse me for wanting to play with Steven a little!" Tourmaline shouted.

"Fine that you wanted to mess around with him a little, but there's a time and place for everything. And playing with tree sap during a mission in a foreign area was beyond dumb." Ruby explained.

"Honestly ever since that incident with Emerald, you've changed Tourmaline. Somethings for the better, and somethings, like this even cockier attitude than usual, for the worse." Sapphire explained.

"Sorry for wanting to have a little fun on these missions." Tourmaline said as he rolled his eyes.

"There's a time and a place for that Tourmaline, but there wasn't one of them!" Ruby shouted.

Meanwhile, Steven was receiving a stern talking to of his own.

"Honestly Steven, hasn't the incident with the blood polyp taught you anything?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah man. I mean it's funny that you were stuck to Tourmaline's back for a while, but you kinda got yourself in a bit of trouble back there." Amethyst said.

"You should know better." Garnet stated.

"Well it looked like everything was going to be fine, and Tourmaline was bored, he made a joke, and we just started playing around a bit." Steven said as he tried to justify his actions.

"Still not an excuse. You need to be prepared for anything in these missions and never let your guard down." Garnet explained, "Now give me that shirt.".

"Which one?" Amethyst joked.

"I got it." Pearl said as she pulled the shirt off Steven, "I'll wash these for you now. They'll be clean and dry by sunrise. Now off you go Steven, it's time for you to sleep.".

"You're not gonna yell at Tourmaline when I go are you?" Steven asked.

"As much as I would like to lay into him for being a reckless, cocky little brat...I'll hold my tongue. His friends are doing that for me anyway." Pearl promised.

"You know what? Just go to your room! I can't even look at you right now!" Ruby demanded.

"Fine by me." Tourmaline said in a contemptuous tone.

"That attitude better be gone by the morning you jerk!" Ruby shouted.

"Yeah, yeah." Tourmaline sighed.

"Yeah I think he's had enough for one night." Pearl assured Steven.

"Alright then." Steven said.

Steven ran upstairs, and Tourmaline walked into the temple. Steven went to change into his PJ's, and Tourmaline walked into his empty and barren room. He sat down and put on his headphones, closed his eyes, and listened to his music. Steven, with his fresh pajamas on, slipped into bed and fell asleep. Ruby sat down on the couch and groaned, Sapphire sitting next to her shortly after she let out her frustration in that single noise. Tanzanite sat at the breakfast bar with Amethyst and Garnet joining them, leaning against the bar. Tanza was talking with Taz, and Pearl started washing Steven and Tourmaline's shirts in the kitchen sink.

"I can't believe him. I know he's reckless, but that? I mean come on!" Ruby complained.

"You think you were a little harsh on him?" Taz asked.

"Only by calling him a jerk. The rest stands." Sapphire answered.

"I'm honestly surprised that none of you shouted at him for the stunt he pulled. I mean fighting a quartz sentinel by himself with Steven stuck on his back, just wow. Figured you'd be more pissed at him, especially you Pearl." Tanza suggested.

"Oh, blindingly so. But I've taken it upon myself to start being nicer to Tourmaline and to be a bit more tolerant of his behaviour, no matter how much I disagree with it. After all, Steven wasn't harmed at all during that mess, so I don't really have too much to be mad about. Now if I found one little bruise, I'd be cutting him to shreds about now." Pearl explained.

"Were a bit used to situations like this anyways. Steven can be a handful sometimes." Amethyst added.

"Ehh, I say he's a bit better than Tourmaline." Garnet stated.

"A bit? Don't cut Steven so short, he's leagues above Tourmaline in terms of manners." Ruby said.

"That's because he's a kid. He's got no choice but to be respectful of his elders." Pearl said, "That and he's had some really nice role models that he's taken after.".

"Well Tourmaline's a young guy too! So he should respect us too!" Ruby argued.

"He respects us. And he's the same age as all of you, save Sapphire and maybe Tanza. Also, five hundred years of not having real interactions with people aside from that Topaz fellow might have left him a little socially inept." Garnet explained.

Ruby sighed, "Yeah, maybe you're right. I should go apologize to him.".

"Just let it go for now. Let the man stew a bit and we'll talk to him tomorrow." Tanza suggested.

"If you say so." Ruby said.

"Speaking of which, we have any plans for tomorrow?" Tanzanite asked Garnet.

Garnet placed the two keys on the breakfast bar.

"Yes. Each of these keys unlocks an individual temple. One in a deep marsh and the other in the middle of one of Earth's vast deserts. Within these temples should be some sort of ancient artifact or history of ancient gem lore. Either way, there's something important inside of them and we should raid the temples." Garnet declared.

"Two in one day? There's no rest for us is there?" Ruby said sarcastically.

"No. There will be one for you. I'll take Amethyst, Pearl and Steven to the other one." Garnet suggested.

"Splitting up eh? Well that's good. Less work anyway." Tanzanite said.

"We'll leave in the morning. And don't worry about fetching Tourmaline, I'll grab him for you." Pearl offered.

"Thanks. I'll grab Steven for you in return." Ruby said.

"Thank you."

Tourmaline had remained stationary ever since he stormed off last night. He had listened to eleven albums since then, only moving when he had to change CDs. The scolding he received from his friends last night put him in a much fouler mood than he let on. The whole time he was sitting there, he stewed about the last situation.

"_Maybe I was a little over confident and reckless back there, but that's how I've always been! And I knew about Steven the whole time, otherwise I would've done something else to take that thing down!" _He shouted in his head.

He had been arguing in his mind for the entirety of the night. He would've been more vocal about it, but he didn't want to get in more trouble than he already was in. Suddenly, he felt someone poke his forehead. He ignored the sensation at first, but it kept happening over and over again.

"Tourmaline!" He faintly heard Pearl say joyfully.

He opened his eyes to see Pearl crouching in front of him, her finger still pressed against his forehead. The two stared at each other for a second, with Pearl holding an awkward smile and Tourmaline with an irritated scowl. He took off his headphones turned off his music.

"What do you want Pearl?" Tourmaline asked.

"We're about to go off on mission. So come along, we need everyone to go on this one." Pearl stated.

"Another big place? Come on we did that yesterday." Tourmaline complained.

"No, two places. We're splitting up and going to different temples this time, so you can spend some personal time with your group of friends." Pearl explained, "Now come along now.".

"No." Tourmaline stated.

Pearl's smile turned to a stern expression. She stared into Tourmaline's dull eyes.

"Pardon?".

"I'm not over last night. I'm not going with them." Tourmaline said.

"Tourmaline please. We don't have time for this. Just make up along the way and relax." Pearl ordered.

"I'm not going with them." Tourmaline said.

"So you're just going to sit here and mope around?" Pearl asked.

"I never said I'm not going to sit here." Tourmaline responded.

The gems were waiting at the warp panel. Garnet had given the key to the desert temple to Tanza. Garnet and Amethyst were standing with Steven in front of the warp panel. Pearl had gone to grab Tourmaline ten minutes ago, and they still haven't come to the warp panel. Ruby tapped her foot against the panel impatiently, with Taz yawning as she waited for them. Eventually, Pearl and Tourmaline entered the house, with Pearl having an awkward expression on her face.

"About time you got here man. Now come on, lets get this done fast." Ruby requested.

"I'm not going with you." Tourmaline stated.

"What?" Sapphire asked.

"I'm not going with you, I'm going with the crystal gems." Tourmaline said.

All gems turned to him with surprised eyes.

"What? But we wanted to do this with you to make up for yelling at you last night." Tanzanite said.

"And you think taking me on another mission would be a nice way of apologizing to me?" Tourmaline said.

"Uhhh, well when you say it like that, yeah that sounds like a bad idea.." Taz agreed.

"If you want to make it up to me, think of something else. For now, I want some space." Tourmaline stated.

"Well, alright Tourmaline. We'll see you later then." Tanza said.

"You want to take Steven?" Garnet asked.

"Huh? I can go with them?" Steven asked.

"What? Why though?" Pearl asked.

Garnet walked over to Pearl and moved her away from the group.

"The others could use a little bit of positivity at the moment, so it's for the best that Steven goes with them." Garnet said.

"Well, alright." Pearl agreed.

They walked back to the group and Garnet crouched down in front of Steven.

"Steven, can you do me a favor and go with them? They need a little happiness right now." Garnet requested.

Steven smiled and nodded.

"Okay!" Steven exclaimed.

"Thanks Steven." Garnet said.

Steven ran onto the warp panel and stood next to Taz. Ruby waved to Tourmaline and Tourmaline waved back. Then the light enveloped the group and they disappeared. The crystal gems walked onto warp panel, with Tourmaline following them onto it.

"So what are we doing today?" Tourmaline asked.

"A temple in an ancient marsh. There might be something interesting inside of it, so we're going to explore it." Pearl said.

"And I take it the others are exploring another temple?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes." Garnet stated.

"Alright, enough talking. We'll have plenty of time to do that in the temple, so lets just go already." Amethyst said.

The warp panel lit up again, and the other gems were off to the second temple. Tourmaline looked up with a stern expression. Everything has been piling up on him, and he needed to do something to unwind. Between the revelation he had a few days ago and yesterday's argument, he needed to let off some steam.

The morning sun shined brightly over the marsh. The half submerged, blue-green field was silent, save for the croaking of a lone frog. In the middle of this nameless bog, a light shined brightly and pierced to the heavens. The bog's lone warp panel's light had dissipated and revealed the crystal gems and Tourmaline. Garnet started walking forward and the others followed close behind her. Tourmaline was behind Pearl and ahead of Amethyst, looking every which way, only to see nothing but water, grass, and moss.

"So why exactly is there a temple all the way out here in the middle of no where?" Tourmaline asked.

"We assume that it was a simple base of operations for gems to meet and survey the forest for any materials they could've utilized. There are a lot of abandoned outposts on this planet after all." Pearl explained.

"Of all places though, why here? And wouldn't, on the very unlikely chance, humans discover this place and try farming the moss or other things?" Tourmaline questioned as he stepped over a patch of moss.

"Oh the temple is well hidden." Pearl said bluntly as she gently walked on the water.

"You ever think of teaching me how to do that? Cause it feels weird slogging through all this slosh." Tourmaline whined.

"Suck it up man, it's not that bad." Amethyst jested.

"Yeah your gems aren't on your legs, so I think our situations are a bit different." Tourmaline argued.

The gems stopped moving at a large, circular pool of water. There wasn't a speck of moss or grass in this serene pool, greatly contrasting to the hot mess of the rest of the waters.

"Fair enough, but stop whining." Amethyst said.

"Alright then. So where's the temple? Under water?" Tourmaline asked as he kneeled down and looked into the pool.

"Yes." Garnet answered.

Garnet took her key and tossed it into the pond. The gems stared at the pool as a large ripple traveled over the waters surface. The ripple touched the edge of the pool, and then another ripple appeared from the center. Then another, and another. Eventually, the pool's smooth surface was now a series of circles, overlapping next to each other and moving towards the edge of the pool. Something began to rise from the center of the pool, breaking the surface of the water and causing the ground to shake. Finally, the structure stopped rising up, and revealed a large, green, circular dome with an oval door. Garnet walked up to the door as Tourmaline stared in awe at the great thing. She touched the door with her open palm, and the door opened from the center. Pearl and Amethyst followed behind her, with Tourmaline following them.

"Is this all there is?" Tourmaline asked.

"No. This is just the transport bubble to the main temple." Garnet explained.

"Main temple?" Tourmaline repeated.

"You'll see." Pearl said.

The door behind them closed, and the orb sunk back into the pool. The gems were stationary as the orb sunk deep under the water's surface. Tourmaline looked up to see a glass skylight, and the light from the surface becoming less apparent as they sunk even lower and lower. The bright light from the sun was now a lone star in a black sky. The door of the orb opened again, revealing a bit of a bright green room. Tourmaline looked away from the skylight and moved towards the door. He exited the orb to see a large room with bright green lights. and dark blue floor panels. He looked to his left and right to see damaged statues and broken machinery. The crystal gems exited and started to walk around the orb. Amethyst turned to Tourmaline, motioning him to come follow them.

"Come on Tourmy! This way!" She called out.

Tourmaline turned around and jogged towards the group. As they walked around the orb, Tourmaline looked at the destroyed equipment, and cracked walls. The other gems were more concerned with moving forward, but Tourmaline wanted to investigate a bit.

"What do you think happened to this place?" Tourmaline asked.

"Not too sure. Some sort of fight went down that much is certain, but I don't remember any battle here." Pearl answered.

"You think it was a corrupted gem?" Amethyst asked.

"It's possible. Stay on your guard." Garnet ordered.

The gems made it to another door. Garnet placed her hands on the door and tried the same method she used on the previous door, but nothing happened. She removed her hands and stared at it, puzzled by the lack of a reaction.

"Something wrong?" Pearl asked.

"It's not active." Garnet stated.

"But the transport orb was perfectly functional! It doesn't make sense that it wouldn't move without power." Pearl said.

"Maybe it doesn't utilize the same power source as the temple?" Tourmaline asked as he moved towards the door.

"That actually sounds a little plausible. It could have kept it's charge in tact for the century it remained inactive, and thus be able to carry us to the temple." Pearl elaborated.

"And that means we could have trapped ourselves into this place." Garnet added.

"Great. So I guess the name of the game is switch on the power, right?" Amethyst questioned, looking up at Garnet.

"Seems like it. Now gems, search the room for some sort of method to get this door op-" Garnet started before being interrupted by a loud crashing noise.

The gems looked at the door to see Tourmaline pulling his foot out of the newly made hole in the door. He gripped the edges of the new hole and pulled the door apart. He took the two pieces of metal and threw them aside. He looked back at the gems and smiled.

"Problem solved. Now let's go!" Tourmaline said in a chipper tone.

Tourmaline marched down the dark hallway and the gems followed close behind.

"Why didn't you do that Garnet?" Amethyst asked.

"Wasn't too sure what would be behind the door. For all I know it could've been an emergency exit out into the water." Garnet said, defending herself.

"You were just thinking that we could find some kind of way to get some power on. Don't worry, we'll find something eventually." Pearl said to Garnet.

As they ran down the hallway, a low rumble could be heard from the depths of the temple. The gems felt it, and stopped moving. Tourmaline turned around and walked back to the other gems.

"Did you guys hear that?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes." Garnet answered.

"I did too." Pearl added.

"I felt it." Amethyst finished.

Tourmaline scratched his head.

"Guess we know that something is in the temple with us. Either that or the generator's way too loud." Tourmaline joked.

"I'm honestly hoping for the latter. I'd rather make this a quick and easy mission for once." Pearl stated.

"You know you probably just jinxed yourself by saying that right?" Tourmaline said smugly.

"Please stop." Pearl demanded.

"As I said before, be on your guard." Garnet repeated.

Tanza looked on at the familiar temple in confusion. She was under the pretenses that she and the others would explore somewhere new, but here she was, staring at the temple Tourmaline raided the day after they first met. She scratched her head and wondered what else there could've been, but all thoughts concluded that there was nothing else to do there. The others walked into the temple and explored the place, but the small room was devoid of any and all things of interest. Topaz was the first to run out of the temple and to Tanza.

"We looked everywhere inside, but there's nothing in there." Taz told her.

The other gems walked out of the temple and towards Tanza.

"Not even a shard of a gem in there. Why would the crystal gems have us go somewhere completely barren?" Tanzanite asked.

"Maybe this was some sort of trick to get us all together so we can talk things out with Tourmaline. Only if backfired when he ran off with them instead of us." Sapphire proclaimed.

"Sapphire that's dumb. The crystal trio are very serious when it comes to missions, maybe they just got the wrong temple?" Ruby suggested.

Sapphire scowled and Tanza shook her head.

"No, they got the location right. It's just that I beat them to the punch." Tanza clarified.

The others looked up at her with mild surprise.

"You were already here? When?" Tanzanite asked.

"I tried to retrieve an artifact the day after I met all of you. But Tourmaline made it first and took the spoils." Tanza explained.

Ruby looked around to see cracked rocks and smashed rubble.

"Seems like there was quite a struggle here." She declared.

"Uh, yes. He fought some tough monsters. He was cool and managed to sway my heart to joining your group that day." Tanza babbled as her eyes dashed side to side.

Sapphire stared at her suspiciously.

"You sure about that? Cause it looks like there are a few marks that look they came from a weapon like yours." Sapphire pointed out.

"Yeah they do...but their not." Tanza fumbled.

"Well, I stand corrected." Sapphire jested.

"Alright enough of this. So what did Tourmaline do with the artifact? Is it back at your temple?" Ruby asked.

"I...well, it sort of got...destroyed. During the fight I mean." Tanza continued, her thoughts getting more scattered as she scrambled to make an excuse.

"So the artifact that you wanted, ended up getting destroyed due to a fight Tourmaline had with this temple's guardian, and that somehow swayed your heart and made you want to join us?" Sapphire asked.

"Yes. It was very noble of him to come clean for his mistakes." Tanza answered clumsily.

The other gems stared at Tanza, who now started to blush slightly. It was getting harder and harder to keep her composure.

"So what exactly was the artifact Tanza?" Taz asked.

"Just some orb. Didn't have any power or anything interesting, it just sort of was there." Tanza explained.

"Maybe the orb was a key to something else?" Taz asked.

"I don't know, but I guess it's safe to say that this was a dead end. Let's go back home." Sapphire declared as she walked back to the warp pad.

The other gems followed her.

"Yeah, maybe we can set something up for Tourmaline as a quick little apology for our outburst yesterday." Tanzanite suggested.

"Sounds alright. Make some food for him?" Taz suggested.

"He doesn't eat. Maybe a board game?" Tanza added.

"Game night sounds alright to me. Say, how do you think Tourmaline got into the temple without the key?" Ruby asked.

The group got on the warp pad, with Sapphire already standing on it and prepping to go back home.

"Knowing him back then, he probably just smashed it down." Sapphire joked.

"I'm going with that. Dude had a pretty simple way of doing things back then." Ruby laughed.

"What do you mean back then? He still goes with break that, ask questions later." Sapphire shot back.

"Yeah but at least now he asks questions between breaking the thing." Ruby laughed.

"Haha! You got me!" Sapphire burst out laughing.

"Wish I knew how he was back when he first met you two. Well, not when he was an evil jerkface but around that area." Taz admitted.

"He's still pretty much the same. He just got a bit of an ego boost and a sense of humor since then." Ruby stated.

"Alright then." Taz dismissed.

Within the underwater temple, the gems had discovered a small chamber. Within it, there were three spherical containment pods and a central pedestal that held a lime green and dark blue orb on a black holder. Pearl was examining one of them pods while Garnet and Tourmaline were observing the orb while Amethyst was searching for some sort of activation terminal to get the power back on. Pearl noticed something inside the pod, a bulky statue in a fetal position. She felt uneasy. She knew what these things were, but then her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Tourmaline.

"I think I saw an orb like this once before. Didn't really do much." Tourmaline recollected.

"It might have some other purpose then instead of being a stand alone relic. After all, why would they leave it in such a well hidden place if it was worthless?" Garnet asked.

"Plus it's on a big pedestal. Great stuff is always on big pedestals!" Amethyst commented.

"Any luck finding a power source for this place?" Tourmaline asked.

"Nope. I got nothing yet. Hey Pearl you mind helping me out?" Amethyst asked.

"Maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea after all. These look like ancient gem golems being held within these containment units." Pearl declared.

Amethyst's eyes jolted open at the mention of the constructs. Her shocked expression turned to morbid contempt as she walked in front of one of the pods. Tourmaline moved away from the pedestal and walked up to a containment chamber opposite to Pearl and Amethyst.

"Gem golems? And those are…?" Tourmaline asked as he walked up to the chamber.

"Ancient sentries that were built to guard temples in a gems absence. They were built en mass to create an army of warriors that could defend outposts from any perceivable threat." Pearl explained.

"Huh, why don't you guys have a few of these lying around? They'd make great babysitters for Steven." Tourmaline joked.

Pearl shot an uneasy glance at Garnet and then turned back to Tourmaline.

"You see the thing is Tourmaline...we can't just make these whenever we want. I mean, technically we can, but it requires some very...cruel methods to make." Pearl stammered.

"Hm? How do you mean?" Tourmaline asked.

"You see, the crafting of the golem's body is hard enough as it is, considering the material needed to make such a hard and powerful structure, but it requires one key element. The gemstone from a gem like us. But the thing is...the process is nearly impossible to replicate, considering how fragile the gem is by itself without a body. And even then, there's never a guarantee that the gem's conscience will bond with the new body. The final result is mainly a robot of sorts. All it does is take orders and do them. No personality, no humanity." Pearl explained.

" So basically, to make one of these soulless golems, it would take-" Tourmaline started.

"A ton of gems, and thus a ton of lives sacrificed before one got lucky." Garnet interrupted.

"Why would they sacrifice so many people for just one thing? Seems like a waste to me. Unless they could farm gems, like at the...the kindergarten." Tourmaline said as he came to a harsh realization.

He looked over to see Amethyst, silently staring up at one of the pods. The statue's feminine face staring through the reinforced glass, it's oval gem stuck in the middle of it's forehead, with the bottom of it touching the bridge of what appeared to be it's nose.

"They're abominations." Amethyst said coldly.

"Yeah that's about the sickest thing I've ever heard." Tourmaline admitted, "Lets leave these things inside.".

Amethyst growled and kicked one of the pods. The others turned to see her outburst. She started screaming at the pod as she continued pounding on it.

"Worthless piece of junk! You have all those lives put in you just to sit around and gather dust! You're not worth the salt they used to scrub your feet you mistake!" She screamed.

Pearl pulled Amethyst away from the pod, with her flailing and growling and trying to break free of Pearl's grip. She gave up, and Pearl set her down.

"I know you're sensitive around these things, but please behave yourself." Pearl requested.

Amethyst turned away and crossed her arms, "Fine.".

"You're not wrong about these things being pieces of junk Amethyst. This one is more of a skeleton than a finished product." Tourmaline commented.

"The one I saw was just a few chunks of the material used to make it." Pearl commented.

Tourmaline walked over to the pod that Amethyst was kicking.

"This one looks alright, but it's still missing a few parts here and there." Tourmaline commented.

Garnet grabbed the sphere. She waited a second for some sort of reaction, but nothing happened. She put herself at ease and looked back at the gems.

"Forget them. We have what we wanted, now let's go back home." Garnet ordered.

"Yeah, I'd like to not come back here again." Amethyst commented bitterly.

"As much as I like the location, I'll second that." Tourmaline added.

The gems walked down the the hallway and then back to the chamber of the transportation orb. Garnet opened the door once more, and the orb floated up to the surface.

"Looks like you were right about this having it's own charge. Thank goodness." Pearl said to Tourmaline, "You think the others had an easy time with their job?".

"Probably. It's just some small temple in a dusty arid area right Garnet?" Tourmaline asked as he nudged Garnet.

"Yes. A small damaged temple. Looked like it was the site of a battle." Garnet said.

Tourmaline's eyes narrowed as an old memory popped up in his head.

"I think I know what you're talking about." Tourmaline said.

"Hm?"

"I went to that temple months ago when I first met Tanza and Taz. I broke into the temple, fought some gem beasts, stole the artifact, and then ended up fighting Tanza there." Tourmaline explained.

"But...how did you get in without a key?" Pearl asked.

"I smashed the door in with a rock. Probably the reason the gem beasts got so riled up." Tourmaline answered.

Pearl's curious expression turned to one of minor annoyance.

"Why am I not surprised? But I digress, you have the artifact don't you?" Pearl asked.

"Well, I did. It was a sphere kinda like that, only different colors. But I got into an argument with Tanza and ended up smashing it in anger." Tourmaline said with guilt, "Yeah that was a little immature on my part.".

"So because of your little outburst back then, this mission was completely pointless." Amethyst said glumly.

"Yup." Tourmaline said.

Pearl sighed.

"Oh well, we didn't waste too much time and maybe this one orb is good for something. I at least hope that spat you had with Tanza was worth it." Pearl said.

"Well, yeah. I got her and Taz to come with me. Plus I got to grab her butt and leg and mount her when we were fighting." Tourmaline admitted.

Garnet slightly turned her head to Tourmaline. Pearl had a shocked expression on her face while Amethyst had a smug grin on her's.

"You what!?" Pearl blurted out.

"Nice." Amethyst said smugly.

The crystal gems and Tourmaline arrived back home to see the others gathered around a board game of some sort. Ruby got up from the couch and walked over to Tourmaline.

"Hey. How did the mission go?" Ruby asked.

"Eh, it was pretty boring. We got something out of it at least." Tourmaline said as he walked over to the couch.

Ruby looked to see the orb in Garnet's hand. She then turned back to Tourmaline.

"You still mad at us?" Ruby asked.

"You know I can never stay mad at you guys. So what are we playing?" Tourmaline asked as he sat on the floor by the group.

"Pears and Oranges. It's the only game that's big enough for all of us." Steven answered.

"Cool. Say did you guys go to the temple where Tanza and I fought at?" Tourmaline said.

"Wait you fought her there? I thought she found you after you fought of some big monster." Sapphire asked.

"Hahaha yeah that's what happened stop making up nonsense!" Tanza spat out as quickly as she could.

"No, we ended up fighting after I smashed the artifact because she was being as stubborn as a mule about something really weird. And then I kicked her butt." Tourmaline said smugly.

Tanza's face was a deep purple as everyone looked at her.

"You didn't kick my butt, you got lucky." Tanza said, flustered.

"He's lucky cause he got a chance to grab your butt instead." Amethyst joked.

Tanza put her face in her hands. Sapphire and Ruby stared at Tourmaline with mixed feelings of surprise and disgust, while Tanzanite and Taz were comforting the embarrassed Tanza. Steven just stared at the mixed group of people and then opened the box to the game up.

"I'm just gonna, start shuffling the cards." He stated.

Within the underwater temple, another rumble was shaking the fortress to it's core. Within the deepest chamber, the pods containing the gem golems began to vibrate violently. The doors to the pods opened out and the three large bodies spilled out of their cells with loud thuds. Each of the golems remained motionless, until the one in the center moved it's hand. It lifted it's large head with a low grumble. It looked back to see one of it's green legs missing a large chunk of it's metal, revealing a geode of small crystals inside. It looked to it's right to see one of the golems. It was a purple golem that used to guard the temple with it centuries ago. It was more spare parts than anything now, but it was not above scavenging. The construct gripped the metal ground, it's large hand sinking deep into the metal. As it pulled itself forward, it ripped off a large chunk of the floor with it. It discarded the piece and kept moving, repeating the process. Eventually it made it to the other golem.

"Mrrrnn." The stone one hummed.

It gripped a piece of the other golem's leg, and with one mighty yank, it pulled off a chunk of it's former comrade's leg. A bright light shined around the cracks of the hole. In a matter of seconds, the golem's leg was healed, now having a large purple splotch where it's hole used to be. It pressed off of the ground and slid it's new leg forward, now kneeling. And it brought the next leg up and was now standing tall. It looked to see that it's other hand was nothing more than a stump, and that it's green chest was filled with holes and cracks. It looked over to it's blue comrade, and back to the purple one. It knew what it had to do. It was programed to know what to do. It tore off the chunks of gemstone from the useless skeletons of the other constructs, and repaired it's body. It couldn't form another hand, but it improvised and made a large ball out of the remaining bits of the blue and purple golem's materials.

Now fully repaired, it looked over to see the temple's pedestal to see the treasure missing. He remembered his old master's words.

"_This orb is to remain here until I come back to retrieve it. No matter what, you must make sure it stays here. You may not be able to stay activated the entire time, but if the sphere is ever stolen, you can track it. You will activate, and you will hunt down whoever has stolen my treasure. And if they refuse to give it back to you, crush them._" The orders echoed.

Time had been rather cruel to his comrades. It looked over to see a large pool of water coming out of both pods. The water must have corroded their bodies and messed with their composition. But it didn't care, it had a job to do. The juggernaut stomped through the hallway and to the transportation orb. It looked at the mysterious thing, perplexed by how it worked. It then looked up to see the small glass window that revealed the sun from the surface. It found it's exit.

"Mmnngah!" It bellowed.

With a mighty leap, it jumped up the the ceiling and clinged onto it. It swung it's massive feet forward, and it's toes sunk into the metal like a hot knife through a piece of meat. It looked over to the window, and raised one fist. It brought it down and easily smashed the reinforced glass. Water poured into the temple at an insanely fast rate. The golem moved forward and into the rushing current of water. It could handle a bit of water damage, so long as it didn't stay within it for a year or so. Even against the mighty current, it easily moved through the opening and walked over to what it assumed to be a cave wall. It's hollow eyes glew brightly and revealed the closest wall. It lumbered through the water and made it to the cave wall. Gripping the stone, it started to climb out of the hole. Like a titan escaping the depths of tartarus, the golem eventually came bursting out of the water and onto the marsh's bank. It shook off the excess water and walked to where the sphere was last in the area. It made it to the warp panel, but all it could do was stare at it. It had no power over other forms of technology, all it had was it's brute strength and iron will.

"Nmmngth." It hummed to itself.

It still knew where the sphere was. The sphere called out to it. Ignoring the warp pad, it soldiered on across the misty marsh's field, crushing moss and creating large splashes of water with each step. It was on a mission to retrieve and maybe destroy. The gems had no idea what was in for them. They had unknowingly awakened a sleeping giant, and it was on the warpath towards their home.

Tanza was in the kitchen, grabbing a few bottled waters out of the fridge. It had been weeks since the temple missions, and it had been strangely quiet since then. She didn't understand why nothing was coming up, but it was nice that they had a break for once. The others were at the boardwalk. Tourmaline managed to cancel the staff's policy against him with a little talk and a big check, so it will be the first time he's been on a ride in months. The only rule they had was that he couldn't ride on the teacups, whatever that meant. Tourmaline hasn't appeared yet, but she didn't really care much. She was still mad at him for spilling the beans on their fight. If it was just that, she would've been mad but it would at least last for a little while and not this long. But then she got a talking to from Topaz. The feelings she got from her lesser were even worse, whether it was explaining why she ended up fighting him, why he grabbed her butt, or explaining her feelings for him to her. Either way, she still wasn't over it. She just wanted to go to the boardwalk and put it out of her head.

"Tanzaaa." She heard a playful voice call to her.

Tanza scowled as she felt Tourmaline wrap his arms around her waist. She felt his face press against her back. She didn't want to turn around, but she didn't want to push him off either. She was mad at him, but not mad enough to get physical.

"Leave me alone Tourmaline. I'm still mad at you." Tanza said coldly.

"Aw come on! You're still mad about that?" Tourmaline teased.

"Yes, and you know for a good reason why." Tanza huffed.

Tourmaline let one of his arms slide off of her waist and to her leg. He slid his hand up slowly, his fingers gently gliding against her skin. Tanza started to blush.

"Sweetie, please. I was just being honest, I thought we agreed that there would be no more secrets amongst ourselves?" Tourmaline said.

"Your secrets, not mine. Besides, you could've at least left out the part about you grabbing my you know what." Tanza said.

"Maybe, but I couldn't resist talking about this a bit!" Tourmaline said playfully.

Tourmaline then used his free hand to pinch Tanza's behind. She let out a squeak and jerked out of his other arm. She blushed a bit more and turned to Tourmaline. Her face was inches from his, and he was wearing a smug grin.

"I don't know where you get off but that was the straw that broke the camel's back! You think you can just say stuff like that to our friends!? We kept that secret for a reason!" Tanza yelled.

"I thought you just wanted to keep your strong appearance with Taz intact. And knowing her that would never change." Tourmaline said as he shrugged.

"Semantics! And she doesn't have to know about our activities!" Tanza continued.

"I already admitted I loved you in front of everyone." Tourmaline responded.

"But she's too young to understand these things!" Tanza declared.

"She's a century old." Tourmaline replied.

"I...it's just...you're such a jer-"

Tourmaline gently grabbed Tanza's shoulders, cutting off her sentence.

"What are you...get your hands off of m-"

Tourmaline leaned back, rocking back on his heels. Tanza's eyes widened and her scowl turned into a concerned expression. Before she could get his hands off of him, he fell back and she fell forward, dropping the water bottles. Tourmaline his the floor, but Tanza landed on his chest. Tourmaline managed to keep his hands on her shoulders and make sure she didn't slam into his chest. He was getting this far, he couldn't afford to screw it up now. Her breasts were pressed against his stomach, and her gaze met his. His smug grin faded into a genuine smile.

"Let me just say sorry again and let us forget this mess." He said.

Tanza blushed harder, but she was losing to his charms. She grit her teeth and tried to look away, but he couldn't resist the sensual gaze he was giving her. She growled, but managed to say a few more words before completely surrendering.

"I...hate that stupid look you give me!" She yelled.

"Sure you do." Tourmaline teased.

Tanza pushed herself upwards and moved in for the kiss. The two gem's lips were pressed against each other, and he wrapped his arms around her. He felt her soft purple hair as he moved her in closer, and she did the same for him. The two released each other from the sweet kiss, and she looked down at him. She was sitting on his crotch and he was staring up with the same look on his face.

"So, are we good?" He asked.

"Yes...we're good." She answered.

Suddenly, the two heard the front door open.

"Tanza! Hurry up we're gonna be la-" Taz said.

The two stared at Taz, and Taz stared back at them, perplexed by their awkward position.

"Oh...I see you two are...making up." Taz said, stunned by what she was seeing.

Tourmaline let out an awkward laugh, and Taz turned around. She reached back for the handle, and was ready to leave.

"I'll just give you a few minutes." She said as she slammed the door.

Tanz looked down at Tourmaline and he stared back up. His worried expression matched her embarrassed one.

"You think she'll be okay?" He asked.

"I hope." Tanza replied.

"We should go now." He suggested.

"Yes, we should." Tanza agreed.

Tanza got off of Tourmaline and bent over, offering a hand to get him back up. He accepted and she hoisted him up. The two then picked up the water bottles Tanza dropped. The two walked next to each other and were about to leave. Tourmaline took her hand in his and looked up to her.

"You wanna try that again later when we won't have any distractions?" Tourmaline asked.

Tanza was silent for a second, and then looked down at him.

"Sure." She answered.

The citizens of Beach city were enjoying the beautiful day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and no weird activity to be seen. Lars and Sadie were at fish stew pizza, eating a few slices outside for their break. Lars took a giant bite out of his pepperoni and anchovy slice as Sadie took careful bites out of hers.

"Sure has been quiet lately." Sadie commented.

"Yeah, it's good that things are actually normal around here for once." Lars said in his usual snooty tone.

"I know but don't you think that this silence is a little...weird itself?" Saide asked.

Lars scarfed down the last of his pizza and reached for his next one.

"Urp, huh? What do ya mean?" He asked.

"Well, it's just that there's usually something that happens around here, what with the gems and all. And it's like they're not even around. If it weren't for Steven coming in, I'm sure we'd be bored out of our minds." Sadie explained.

Lars took a quick bite out of his pizza as Sadie ate hers.

"Well...maybe they're just better at their job now. I mean Steven told us about those other guys that moved into their house, I'm sure they're just cleaning up the city so fast we don't even notice anything weird happening." Lars said.

"Hm, maybe that's it." Sadie said.

"Besides, I like boring. It's better than chaos and disaster." Lars stated.

Suddenly, they felt the ground shake and the heard the sound of stone being crushed. Lars dropped his pizza on his shirt, and Sadie got up. Sadie ran to see the source of the tremor, and Lars ran behind her as another tremor occurred. She made it to the corner of the sidewalk to see the source of the shakes. The two stared at a giant golem as it walked down the street, stomping large potholes in the ground with each step. It had a frozen face of a woman, but it's body was structured like a musclebound being of impossible proportions. It's hands were massive, as big as Sadie, and were attached to arms as thick as oak trees. The legs were thick and long, a protective layer of what appeared to be some sort of metal covered them, leaving only the feet exposed. The torso was a mass of gemstone and metal. Small details of diamonds and other forms of cut gemstones were littered over it's arms. It's green, purple and blue skin shined like a polished sword in the sun. They didn't notice it at first since it was still a bit of a distance away, but as it came over to them, it was shown that it was massive. It was easily ten feet tall, but the tremors it made made it feel like it was a hundred feet tall. Whatever it was made of, it was really heavy.

"You just had to say it was boring around here." Lars talked down to Sadie.

"How did I jinx this? I didn't ask for something this crazy!" Sadie whispered to Lars.

"Whatever, we gotta find Steven and tell him what's up before this thing-"

The sound of screeching tires filled the air. Sadie and Lars turned to see a bus speeding into the creature, trying desperately to stop. Too little too late, as the bus slammed into the monster. The front of the bus pressed into itself, the sound of breaking glass and crushing metal now filling the air. The golem was unmoved, but remained still. A few seconds later, the bus's emergency door opened, and all the passengers spilled out. A young man was holding an old man with a head injury over his shoulder. It must have been the driver because he was in the worst shape. Sadie ran over to help the people get out of the street, with Lars coming along to help as well.

"Mngoohh." The golem hissed.

All eyes turned to the colossus. It turned to face the bus, the expression still frozen. It stared at the battered and smoking vehicle, curious at what hit it. Suddenly, the creature gripped the bus with it's giant hands, the thumbs going through what was left of the windshield and the other fingers digging deep into the bus's metal exterior. It lifted the bus with relative ease, and brought it up to it's chest. The onlookers were amazed by the construct's strength. It had it's arms outstretched and was lifting the bus like a piece of cardboard. The golem then began to pull the bus apart, the metal giving as it tore the bus in two like a sheet of paper. The crowd covered their ears to shield themselves from the sound of screeching metal. The street was littered with broken glass and random parts from the bus. The golem then turned around, ready to chuck the two halves at the beach.

"Wrooaar!" The golem bellowed as it tossed the two halves of the bus.

The two pieces flew through the air and flew towards the beach. The first half hit the sand, creating a massive dust cloud, and then the other slammed into the first half. The impact created a massive ball of fire. The golem stared ahead and then the crowd screamed in terror and fled the scene.

The gems played at the boardwalk. Tanzanite and Ruby were playing a squirt gun game at one of the stands, Steven and the crystal gems were riding the ferris wheel, and Sapphire, Tourmaline, Tanza and Taz were relaxing at the snack stand. Tourmaline was drinking a lemonade from a straw, and Taz was eating a funnel cake. Tourmaline bought her the food as a way of saying "Sorry you had to see that earlier." and she gladly accepted it.

"So Tourmaline, glad to see you and Tanza being friendly again." Sapphire commented.

"Yeah a little too friendly if you ask me." Taz commented under her breath before she took another bite of her cake.

"All it took was a little bit of conversation." Tourmaline declared as he took a sip of his drink.

"I thought you didn't like eating?" Sapphire asked.

"I don't. Drinking is a different story." Tourmaline said.

Ruby and Tanzanite walked over to them, with Tanzanite holding a stuffed seal toy.

"Nice prize Tanzanite." Tourmaline commented.

"Thanks. Ruby won it for me." She admitted.

"You would've had it anyways." Ruby commented.

The two sat down at the table.

"Well I'm glad you guys have a souvenir." Tourmaline said.

"You think the other gems should be done with their ride now?" Taz asked as she finished off her cake.

"I'm guessing yes, considering I'm seeing them coming right now." Tourmaline said as he pointed behind Ruby.

The others looked to see the gems walking towards them, with Steven jogging in front with a massive smile on his face. Steven hopped up next to Tourmaline and gave him a little hug. Tourmaline's content smile grew wider with the hug.

"Thanks again for doing this Tourmaline!" Steven exclaimed.

"Hey, I thought we should be doing something nice on a day like this." Tourmaline stated, "You guys having fun?".

"Eh, not as exciting when Steven wrecked the place a while ago." Amethyst admitted.

"Please don't mention that. Mr. Smiley is still paranoid that something else might happen." Pearl said as she pointed towards a hispanic man staring them down from across the boardwalk.

"Is that why that guy was following us around all the time?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes." Garnet stated.

"Well he has nothing to worry about. There's no chance anything's gonna happen today." Ruby said.

As she finished that sentence, a loud explosion was heard in the distance. Mr. Smiley ran up to the group and looked down at Steven with a panicked expression.

"Steven what did you do!?" He shouted.

"I-I-I didn't do anything!" Steven exclaimed.

Tourmaline was the first to get up and looked towards the beach. His stern expression turned to one of shock when he saw the source of the noise.

"Uhhh Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl? The golems were broken and inactive when we saw them right?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes, they were mostly spare parts…" Pearl said, concerned.

"Oh...then what's that?" Tourmaline said as he pointed towards the sight.

Garnet ran beside him and was horrified by the view. A giant golem was standing in the middle of the road and staring at the wreckage of a bus on the beach. The others joined beside them and they all viewed it with a sense of dread.

"What the heck is that?" Taz asked.

"A bad thing. A very bad thing!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Looks like it's going towards our house." Steven stated.

"And that's our cue to run back to our home." Tourmaline said as he jumped off the ledge and towards the beach.

"Tourmaline no! We need a plan!" Garnet ordered.

Too late. He was already on the beach and running towards the giant thing. Garnet jumped off of the railing and the others followed her example. Taz and Steven ran through the dazzled crowd, trying to get to their friends in time to help them.

Tourmaline ran across the beach to see the giant golem walking into their front yard. Without thinking, he leaped up into the air, summoning his grieves, and kicked it's back. The creature bent over slightly, and Tourmaline climbed up it's back and moved to it's face. He slid across the construct's shoulders and pressed off it's chest. He fell into a roll, rolled a short distance, and then stopped himself. He turned to the massive thing, more annoyed by his first strike then anything. The stone monster started walking towards the house, but Tourmaline rushed forward towards it. He kicked the monster in it's stomach, halting it's progress, but not doing any visible damage. Before he could react, the giant grabbed him with it's hand.

"_Aw crap!_" Tourmaline thought to himself.

The creature let out a loud bellow and then tossed Tourmaline in the air. Tourmaline floated in the air for a second, seeing the beast's fist and ball being flung towards the sky, and then immediately down on him. The impact was massive, creating a giant explosion of dust and sand, and a crater the size of a swimming pool. Tourmaline cried out in pain as he felt his chest and back being crushed. The creature removed his hands and stared down at Tourmaline. Tourmaline slowly got to his feet, clutching his broken chest and coughing up blood.

"That...all you got?" He wheezed.

"Ngraah!" The golem bellowed as it raised it's foot.

Tourmaline stared up in terror at the massive foot. He clenched his teeth and said his prayers. He was in too much pain to move, and the sudden fear in his mind made it even harder to move.

"_Why do I say things?_" He thought to himself.

Suddenly, he felt something wrap around his shoulders. He looked to see Amethyst's whip gripping him, and he looked over to see another whip was wrapped around the creature's other leg. Amethyst jerked Tourmaline towards her, and Garnet and Tanza pulled the other whip back, sliding the creature's leg out from underneath it. The golem fell forward and flat on it's face, creating a massive tremor. Tourmaline fell on his hands and knees in front of the group. Sapphire got him to his feet, and then reeled back when she saw the massive indentation on his torso.

"Uh Tourmaline, your chest is…" Sapphire started.

"I know...hold on." Tourmaline said.

He strained his chest and puffed out his muscles as hard as he could. Emitting a low yell, his chest popped back into place with a loud crack. Tourmaline yelled in pain and gripped his chest again.

"Oh god it hurts worse putting it back in place!" Tourmaline shouted.

"Looks like you learned something new with your regeneration." Ruby said as she drew her swords.

"I can usually do something like this if I'm still conscience to do it, but it hurts way too much! I'd rather go back into my gem." Tourmaline whined.

"Enough of this, we have an enemy to crush!" Garnet ordered.

The golem got to it's feet, and turned to see the gems. Each of them had their weapons at the ready, and stern expressions on their faces. The beast let out a loud bellow and the gemstone in it's head began to glow. From out of the gem came a handle of sorts. The beast reached up and pulled the singular line out of it's head. Still draped in white light, the top half of the bar expanded into a round and blunt end. The light dispersed from the object to reveal a giant, green club. The golem slammed it against a boulder, smashing it to gravel in an instant. The gems flinched at the act of sheer power.

"Hey Tourmaline, how bad was it when the thing slammed you to the ground?" Ruby asked.

"Almost died bad, but it used both of it's hands. Well, that hand and that ball." Tourmaline answered.

"Yeah it's probably best we keep our distance with this one." Ruby stated.

Garnet was the first to rush in. Summoning her gauntlets, she punched the creature's leg. It had no effect. Garnet bounced back off of the hard metal and the creature swung it's club upwards, cutting through the sand and rushing towards Garnet. Garnet put her hands out to catch the club, but was swept upwards by the strike. She flew into the air and the beast flung it's club up at her. The club flew quickly and the tip hit Garnet's chest. Garnet cried out in pain as she spun rapidly from the hit. Pearl angrily shot a few lasers from her spear at the monster, but to little effect. Amethyst wrapped her two whips around the creature's arms and cracked them down, sending a torrent of purple energy along them. The impact was massive, making a giant dust cloud of an explosion. Then as the dust settled, it revealed that it only made a few cracks in the monster's armor.

"Aw come on!" Amethyst yelled out.

"These things are a lot sturdier than I remember." Pearl commented.

Tourmaline looked up to see Garnet plummeting down to earth. He leapt up and caught her mid-air. The two fell down to earth, and Garnet winced in pain.

"You alright?" Tourmaline asked.

"It's...a little painful. But I can still fight." Garnet said as she wobbly stood back up.

The other gems were trying their best to fight it, but to little effect against the creature. Ruby and Tanzanite's swords merely clanged off it's skin, Sapphire couldn't find a sweet spot to sink her claws into, Tanza was busy building up speed for an attack, and Pearl &amp; Amethyst's attacks barely did anything to it. The creature summoned it's club back, and started swinging at the gems. Each of them did their best to dodge each attack, but then the creature let out another roar and spun it's torso around in a circular motion. Tanza rushed in, unaware of the new attack, and was slammed hard by the creature's club. She went flying into the ocean, and fell dozens of yards off the shore and into the water. Tourmaline stared at the beast in utter shock. Garnet looked at the young gem and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure she's fine! Just focus on the fight at hand!" She stated.

Tourmaline ignored her, and started to quiver with rage.

"You...hit…" He started.

Garnet could see him building up. She stepped back and looked towards the others, who were a good distance away from the monster after it did it's surprise attack. Tanzanite was running across the ocean to rescue Tanza.

"MY TANZA!" Tourmaline screamed as his grieves and gems glew.

The others looked to see the glowing Tourmaline rush towards the golem. The golem turned towards Tourmaline, and slammed it's club down on the young gem. Tourmaline grit his teeth and strained his muscles, but he managed to stop the attack. Pain was nothing to him, all he had was his anger. The golem stared down at Tourmaline, confused that it's attack didn't work. Tourmaline gripped the giant club, and yanked it out of the monster's hand. He grabbed the skinny handle of the massive thing, and with one violent swing, he clocked the creature in it's jaw. The monster let out a pained cry as it's head flung to the side. Then Tourmaline swung at it's knee, causing it to fall into a kneeling stance. Then with a final attack, he slammed it as hard as he could into the creature's chest. The creature staggered back as it's club was shattered. Tourmaline spun around and readied a massive load of energy to be released from it's leg. Garnet saw her chance and readied her rocket fists. She shot them first and then Tourmaline kicked forward, releasing a torrent of green energy. The fists were the next to connect, resulting in another large blast. Tourmaline kneeled over, exhausted from the massive attack. But from the dust came the monster's hand. It grabbed Tourmaline, crushing him slightly as it squeezed him. The attacks had done something, but it wasn't enough to destroy it. The cracked monster slammed Tourmaline into the ground, and then flung him like a baseball into the house. Tourmaline smashed through the wall and slammed hard against the temple's wall. He fell to the ground in a ball of pain.

"_What the hell is this thing? I put everything I had into that attack and it still wasn't enough! What does it want? Why did the golem activa-" _He thought to himself.

A sudden realization interrupted his thoughts. He slowly got to his feet, and walked over to the closet by the stairs. He opened it up and fumbled through all the board games and other toys in there to find the orb they had acquired that day.

"_Where is it, where is it?_" He thought to himself.

Outside, Steven and Taz just arrived at the fight. Tanzanite and Tanza were back on shore.

"Tanza!" Taz shouted.

She rushed over to her friend and Steven ran over to Pearl. Tanza had a crushed arm and a bit of blood at the corner of her mouth, but she managed to smile for her friend.

"Good to see you here." She said softly.

"Tanzanite, you leave her here! She's in no condition to fight more!" Taz ordered.

"I can still fight." Tanza said as she did her best to stand.

She wobbled a bit, but then fell over. Taz caught her, and lied her down on the beach.

"No, you're not. Wait here while I get Steven!" Taz ordered.

"I'll protect her." Tanzanite declared.

Meanwhile, Steven had made it to Pearl.

"Pearl! What is that thing!?" Steven asked.

"Gem golem! But it's far more powerful than any I've ever faced! It flung Tourmaline into the house!" She shouted as she picked up Steven, "Get inside and help him!" .

Pearl chucked Steven as hard as she could, and Steven landed on his butt on the deck. He rubbed his behind and ran through the door. He looked inside to see Tourmaline pawing through the closet.

"Tourmaline! Now's not the time for a board game!" He shouted.

Tourmaline peeked over the door and looked at Steven.

"Oh Steven! Quick, I need the orb that we got a few weeks ago!" Tourmaline requested.

"Huh, but why?!" Steven asked.

"It's what the thing wants! If I can get it, maybe I can convince it to stop attacking us!" Tourmaline declared.

"I don't think that's gonna happen!" Steven shouted.

A sudden burst of of dust and debris came from behind them.

"Stopped arguing and get it!" Tourmaline shouted.

Steven nodded and ran upstairs. He opened his closet and pulled out the orb. The gems gave it to him when they figured it was useless. He tossed it down to Tourmaline, and he caught it with ease. Tourmaline ran out the door to see the monster still fighting the other gems. He raised the orb high and screamed as loud as he could at the monster.

"Hey big guy!" Tourmaline screamed.

The golem turned his way and then emitted a low hum when it saw the orb.

"Is this what you want!? Then stop attacking my friends!" Tourmaline demanded.

Ruby and the others turned towards Tourmaline.

"Tourmaline you idiot it's not gonna stop attacking just because you have the worthless hunk of junk!" Ruby shouted.

But to the gems surprise, the golem eased out of it's stance and kneeled down before Tourmaline. The beast was ordered to crush any who wouldn't give the ball to it, but now it's foes are handing it over to it easily. Tourmaline hopped off of the deck and towards the creature. The beast reached out for the orb, but Tourmaline wouldn't give it back.

"But first, before I give this too you, I have to ask why you're so adamant to get this. The other orb is gone, so it's probably worthless now, and your master or whoever has been gone for centuries. There's no point in this thing anymore. Why do you continue to guard it?" Tourmaline asked.

The golem merely let out a hum. A chunk of gemstone fell out of it's massive chest, and revealed a small source of light. Tourmaline looked to see inside of the giant, and then the orb began to glow. Without hesitating, he thrust the orb into the golem's cavity. The monster let out a little cry in surprise, but then looked down to see it's Tourmaline. The gem in it's forehead had slipped deep into it's body, and the light from it's chest started bursting through all it's cracks. In a second, the monster imploded, all of it's gemstones and rocks fell in a pile of rubble. Only the cracked and scared face remained intact. The gems stared at the pile in amazement. Suddenly, the pile of rocks began to shake. From within the pile, a woman burst out. She was light brown and wearing what could only be described as a blue greek dress. Around her arm was a black band, her hair was in a neat bun, and her brown gem was in the same position it was in when she was a golem. She had the figure of an amazon, and was a bit taller than Garnet. She stared down at Tourmaline with amber eyes. A smile came across her lips.

"Thank you young one for releasing me from my prison. I'm whole once more, and no longer a lifeless machine." She said in a heavenly voice, "How did you know that would work?".

"I didn't. It was on impulse." Tourmaline admitted.

"Oh. Well, good guess. Now tell me your name." The woman asked.

"Tourmaline. And you are?" He asked.

"Sardonyx." She answered.

She leaned down in front of him.

"Well thank you again Tourmaline for releasing me. If there's anything you need, let me know and I will return the favor." Sardonyx said.

"Alright."

"Oh, and one more thing…"

Sardonyx then punched Tourmaline as hard as she could in the stomach. Tourmaline felt all the wind being knocked out of him, as well as some blood. He fell to his knees and looked up at a miffed warrior.

"Stealing is still bad, no matter how you justify it." She said sternly.

"It was more scavenging." Tourmaline wheezed.

"No matter how you justify it!" She repeated louder.

She then picked him up and dusted him off. She turned around and started to walk away. The other gems stared at her, perplexed by this series of events. Sardonyx looked back at Tourmaline and smiled.

"You can find me at the desert temple. I remember flooding the other one so I don't think I'll stay there." She declared.

With that, she leapt into the air and bounded over Beach City. The others stared on as she leapt through the air like a flea. The others walked over to Tourmaline and helped him move, except for Garnet who had just picked up Tanza. They all walked upstairs and immediately collapsed on the floor.

"Well that was a great way to end our vacation." Tourmaline blurted out before he passed out on the floor.


	21. Chapter 21: Parental Guidance

Chapter 21: Parental Guidance

Tourmaline and Garnet were sparing in the arena. Tourmaline's kicks were matched by Garnet's punches, each clash sending a loud crack through the air. Tourmaline leaped forward to deliver a knee to Garnet's chin, but Garnet leaned back, evading the strike and retaliating with a hammer fist down. Tourmaline fell to the ground but managed to stop himself from bouncing off of it, though he slid a bit back. From his crouching pose, he looked up at Garnet. He cracked his neck and stood up. He grinned and Garnet grinned back. A light shined around her gauntlets, and they disappeared. The two walked up to each other with matching smiles.

"That's four to zero. I think I'm gonna quit while I'm still conscience and say that I need to do more work on my own." Tourmaline said as he rubbed his head.

"Don't beat yourself up. You fought well, and you definitely have improved substantially since I've met you." Garnet complimented.

"I guess you're right." Tourmaline admitted.

The two were in front of each other now. Garnet ruffled Tourmaline's hair, getting Tourmaline to let out a small giggle.

"You're a lot like your dad, you know that?" Garnet admitted.

"I am? Like in what ways?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet and Tourmaline started to walk out of the arena.

"Well...you're a bit cocky, but you care a lot for your loved ones, and you both have a very strong will." Garnet listed.

"Well, yeah. He died for you all during that battle against that giant monster way back in the day." Tourmaline said.

Garnet stopped in place. Tourmaline walked a few steps ahead of her before realizing that Garnet wasn't walking next to him. He turned around to see Garnet staring at him, her smile now faded into a stern expression.

"What do you mean died for us? He died for your mother that day, and nothing else." Garnet asked.

"Hmm? Well my mom came to me in my head a long time ago, the first time I actually had to retreat into my gems. She told me that there was a great war against this giant monster. She wanted to fight, but my dad made her stay away. The thing killed thousands of gems and my dad died to protect Rose." Tourmaline explained.

Garnet raised a hand to her mouth and moved her head a bit to the side, averting her gaze.

"What is it? That's the way it happened. My mom told me so." Tourmaline said.

Garnet looked back to Tourmaline.

"Tourmaline...that's only right in bits and pieces." Garnet said.

Tourmaline's eyes widened a bit.

"What...what do you mean?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet walked up to Tourmaline and placed her hands on his shoulders. Tourmaline looked up to her and she looked down to him.

"That story is mixed up. There was a war. There was a giant gem beast. Jade did die to protect Rose...but it's missing details and it's very out of place." Garnet calmly told me.

Tourmaline stepped away from Garnet, a look of dread spreading across his face.

"What...I don't...I don't understand!" Tourmaline said.

Garnet walked forward, and Tourmaline took a step back. She extended her hand as a sign of peace, and Tourmaline slowly took it.

"I'll show you what I mean. Then if you have any more questions, I'll tell you everything I can." Garnet offered.

Tourmaline's scared expression faded away and turned into his usual stern and confident expression. He nodded his head, and Garnet led him to the warp panel.

Tourmaline and Garnet were traveling through the warp pad's stream. Tourmaline had been silent for the entire walk to the panel, but he couldn't contain it anymore. He had to ask more questions.

"How did you even get to know my mom and dad? What happened before this...thing you're gonna show me?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet turned to Tourmaline.

"Thousands of years ago, there were gems everywhere on Earth. It was somewhat peaceful, and during this quiet time, Pearl met your mother and I met your father. We were all good friends, save for your mom and dad." Garnet started.

"Mom and dad hated each other at first?" Tourmaline asked.

"I wouldn't really say hate, more like...how Pearl and Amethyst are now." Garnet stated.

"A sort of caring relationship but they still messed around with each other a lot?" Tourmaline asked.

"Something like that. But eventually their feelings began to grow for each other, and they fell in love." Garnet added.

"So I have you to thank for me being here right now." Tourmaline commented.

"Heh. I guess so." Garnet shrugged, "Anyways, we were also great friends with Rose. They shared her views, and they saw that the world around us wouldn't be here if they didn't do something.".

"What?"

Suddenly, the light around them disappeared, revealing a large field of strawberries. Amongst the bushes were swords, axes and other weapons scattered about the field. Tourmaline was looking every which way at the old battleground. After looking around for a few seconds, he looked towards Garnet. Garnet walked forward, and Tourmaline followed her.

"What is this place?" Tourmaline asked.

"It's the site of an old war. The war for Earth." Garnet answered.

"War for Earth? Is this what you were talking about earlier?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes. Rose couldn't stand to see the planet and it's people suffer, so she resorted to war. She had many allies, and with them she rebelled against the homeworld. Many lives were lost, but we managed to drive them off of Earth." Garnet explained.

Tourmaline stopped in place. Garnet stopped with him, and turned back to look at him. Tourmaline was squeezing his limp left arm, with his eyes averted. He didn't know what to think of this, it was all so new to him.

"So my dad died in the war? But...that doesn't make sense. This had to have been thousands of years ago, but I'm only five centuries old! There's no way that he could've-"

"Your father didn't fight in this war." Garnet interrupted.

Tourmaline's eyes shot wide open. He looked up at Garnet with the same surprised expression.

"He ran away." Garnet stated.

Tourmaline's jaw hung ajar, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"My...my dad deserted you and my mom?" Tourmaline said, quivering.

Garnet walked up to Tourmaline. She placed her hands on his shoulders and then crouched down, meeting him at eye level.

"Your father knew that there was a very real chance that he and Aquamarine could die. He knew there was a risk that if we did win, they would be hunted down or worse. Your father took your mother away from Earth and back to the Homeworld, so he could protect her. I'll admit it, I thought your father was a coward for turning and running away from all of his friends, but Rose understood that he couldn't risk losing her. Aquamarine wanted to fight alongside us, but your father...he was scared. So the two ran away before it was too late for them." Garnet explained.

Tourmaline's lip quivered, and a tear formed in the corner of his left eye. He stepped back and tripped over a sword. He fell onto his back and looked up at Garnet.

"I...no...he couldn't have ran away...he died here on Earth! I saw his gem! I held his gem!" Tourmaline yelled.

Garnet bent over and extended her hand towards Tourmaline.

"Show me where you found him." Garnet requested.

Tourmaline grabbed her hand and Garnet pulled him up. Tourmaline wiped the tear from his eye and then turned around, walking back to the warp pad with Garnet following right behind him.

In the desolate fields, there was a sudden flash of light from the lone warp panel. Tourmaline ran ahead through the field, stepping over the remains of the fallen warriors and miscellaneous weapons. Garnet ran behind him, looking forward and doing her best to not look down at the corpses on the ground.

"I recognize this place! This was the field of another battle!" Garnet yelled out.

"I know! My dad fought here alongside other gems and you!I found him over there! Follow me!" Tourmaline commanded.

Garnet complied and the two made it to a giant bones of the beast that slayed Tourmaline's father. Tourmaline stopped dead and shivered as he saw the giant figure. Garnet looked up with him, a flood of bad memories coming back to her.

"This is the thing that my father fought, along with everyone else that had died here. It was here that the two sides fought again, and then this thing, born from the violence from the battle, came to kill them all. The two sides joined forces to battle the monster before it killed them all. That's what Tanza and my mom told me. I know this is true." Tourmaline said.

"No...it's not the same. Many years ago...your father and mother ran away from the homeworld. They knew that their civilization was becoming too violent, but they endured it for millennia so they wouldn't be labeled members of the rebellion. Finally, they took part in this experiment. The experiment to create a new breed of gems, a stronger gem." Garnet started.

"Feldspar…" Tourmaline said under his breath.

Garnet turned to him.

"What was that?" Garnet asked.

Tourmaline snapped out of his thoughts.

"Nothing. Continue.".

"Right. So your mother was pregnant with you, and after a few months, they realized that they couldn't let you grow up on the homeworld. They couldn't let the others shape you into some sort of weapon like they intended to. So they ran away again, this time with an entire army coming after them. They ran for months, constantly evading capture and fighting off any who were close enough to find them. Eventually, they made it back to Earth, and we knew that they were here. Rose had only a small portion of her army left, but she was positive that it was enough to protect your parents. We met at the battlefield, and we only saw your father." Garnet explained.

"Mom wasn't with him?" Tourmaline asked.

"He sent her through the warp pad and decided to stand against the army alone. Rose and the rest of us met up with him, and the two armies clashed. Then this...thing came from the earth. We don't know where it came from, we just know that it wanted to kill all of us. The two sides did join forces to attack it, and in the end...all that was left was Rose, Pearl, Amethyst, and me." Garnet finished.

"You couldn't find my mom?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet placed her hand up to her shades. She heaved a sigh, and then turned back to Tourmaline.

"We searched for her. We really did, but by the time we had recovered...she disappeared. I'm assuming it's because she had you, but she was gone. And as you said, you were a drifter. If you were in one space, you were in another the next day. Eventually, we just gave up. Rose felt terrible for not being able to find either of you, to protect you like she protected us. But...that's how it turned out." Garnet said in a somber tone.

Tourmaline looked away from Garnet and down at the ground. Garnet moved her hand towards Tourmaline's shoulder.

"Tourmaline...this is the tru-"

Tourmaline slapped her hand away, and then ran away back towards the warp panel.

"Tourmaline!" Garnet shouted as she ran after him.

"Leave me alone!" He yelled back.

He leaped into the air and onto the warp pad. The light enveloped him and he disappeared. Garnet rushed onto the warp panel and followed close behind. She looked up to see if he was in the stream, but saw nothing.

Garnet warped back home to be confronted with the other gems. Ruby, Sapphire and Tanza had angry scowls on their faces while Tanzanite, Pearl, Amethyst, Steven and Taz had a concerned expression on their faces before Garnet could speak, Ruby lashed out at her.

"What did you do to Tourmaline!? What did you tell him!? Was it bad!? Cause he's freaking out!" Ruby shouted.

"So...he's here then." Garnet said timidly.

Tanza walked up to Garnet.

"Yes, and he had tears in his eyes! What did you do to him!?" Tanza shouted.

Garnet pushed the two girls back a bit, giving her some space.

"I told him about Jade and Aquamarine. Everything." Garnet answered.

Pearl and Amethyst gasped.

"The war and how they died?" Pearl asked.

Garnet nodded.

"Garnet! He didn't need to know! I mean geez the guy's mind is hanging from a thread already he didn't need this dropped on him out of no where!" Amethyst yelled.

"I thought he could handle this. He had a rough idea of what it was, but I guess it was still too much for him." Garnet said.

Ruby grit her teeth. Sapphire pointed towards the door.

"Well you go and get him!" Sapphire commanded, "And make sure he feels at least a little bit better.".

Garnet nodded.

"I will. Any ideas of where he might be?" Garnet asked.

Steven stepped forward.

"The top of our hill, he'll be there." Steven stated.

Tanza nodded.

"Alright, I'll be back with him." Garnet stated.

With that, she ran out of the house and jumped up to the top of the hill. Pearl and Amethyst heaved a sigh and the others turned towards them.

"You didn't have to lash out at her like that." Pearl stated.

"We'll apologize later. Right now Tourmaline is our greatest concern." Ruby promised.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" Taz asked.

"I don't know...all I know is that Garnet knows what to say to him right now. We can help him cheer up when he comes back." Tanza stated.

"Okay then." Taz agreed.

Tourmaline was alone on the hill, sitting in a fetal position. His face stained with his tears. He looked out at the sea to see the same beautiful shade of orange and pink that was usually around at sunset, but even it's glory wasn't enough to sway his mood. Thoughts of his parents, the struggles they had to go through, the pain they endured, and the friends they lost, it all piled up on him. Knowing that he was the last thing that the two ever had in the world, and that he had spent most of his life doing horrible things was the straw that broke the camel's back. He may have been disgusted with his actions before, but now he truly felt ashamed of himself. Suddenly, he saw something leap up from the cliff. It landed in front of him, and Tourmaline looked up to see Garnet, and immediately looked down.

"Tourmaline, the others are worried about you. You should come home." Garnet suggested.

Tourmaline was silent. Garnet's sympathetic gaze was obscured by her shades, so she took them off and sat down next to him. She put her hand on his back, slowly rubbing it.

"I'm sorry. If I had known that this is would upset you so much, I never would have told you. I just felt that you had the right to know." Garnet said calmly.

"It's not that. It's just...everything you said. How caring my parents were, how much they loved each other, how my dad was willing to die for her, and his friends...I don't know how they would think of me." Tourmaline admitted.

"Tourmaline, don't be ridiculous. You're a great person. You nearly sacrificed yourself to protect my friends the moment we met you. You have many people that love you and you love them back. Aquamarine and Jade would be proud to know that you're their son." Garnet assured him.

"That doesn't change what I have done. I went against everything that my parents believed in the moment I hurt another human...I've done so many bad things in my life and I can never admit that I'm a good person now. Several months of making friends and defending Earth cannot make up for the other five centuries of atrocities I have committed, even if I do this for another five centuries. I'll never be rid of my past." Tourmaline said, choking up.

Garnet's sympathetic look turned to one of sadness. Tourmaline has been hurting for so long, and he still hid it away from the others with smiles and laughter. She was at a loss for what she wanted to say, but then something sprung into her mind.

"Tourmaline...when your mother came to you, what did she say?" Garnet asked.

"I already told you what she told me, but I guess her memories were a bit misconjointed. Guess the pregnancy and everything else was too much on her mind." Tourmaline said.

"No, I mean the first thing she had said to you." Garnet asked.

Tourmaline was quiet for a second, and he hung his head lower.

"You've suffered through so much, done such terrible things...I'm sorry that I couldn't have been there to prevent this from happening." Tourmaline quoted.

"She knows what you did, but she doesn't hate you for it. You didn't know...you didn't know the true side of humanity. The side that Rose and I fought for. If she truly hated you, she never would have come to see you. Your mother and father died with the same feelings for you. They loved you then and I'm certain they love you now." Garnet said.

Tourmaline was quiet. Garnet stared at him for a good minute, waiting for a reaction. Suddenly, she heard light sobbing. She slid over to be in front of Tourmaline. She gently grabbed his face and lifted it up. To her surprise, instead of a sad frown, he had a genuine smile. He was still crying, but he was smiling.

"Do you really think so?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet blinked, and then smiled back.

"No. I know so." Garnet answered.

The two stood up, and Tourmaline immediately latched onto Garnet, hugging her as tightly as he could. Garnet returned the embrace, and hugged him back. The two let go of each other, and looked into each other's eyes.

"Are you ready to go back?" Garnet asked.

"In a minute, I want to watch the sunset for a bit longer." Tourmaline answered.

"Alright. I'll tell the others you're okay now. Don't keep us waiting too long." Garnet requested.

"I won't." He responded.

Garnet turned around and walked towards the hill's edge. Before she jumped off, Tourmaline called to her.

"Hey Garnet."

She turned around to him, her shades still in her hand.

"Yes?"

"You have beautiful eyes you know...I don't know why you have to hide them all the time." Tourmaline admitted.

Garnet looked away and slightly blushed. She quickly put the shades back on.

"Not everyone has the same opinion as you. Besides, I like the way these shades look on me." Garnet said with a smile.

With that, Garnet jumped off the hill and down towards the house. Tourmaline walked towards the edge and sat down, his legs dangling in the air. He stared on at the sea, a new sense of happiness rushing through him.

"_Mom...Dad...I'll do my best to be like you. Be someone...who you can be proud of._" He thought to himself.

His gems began to slightly glow. He didn't notice this, as the light was obscured by the sun's rays, but he did feel a warm, tingling sensation flowing through his body. He laughed a little to himself as his gems let out waves of green and blue energy.


	22. Chapter 22: Missing Piece

Chapter 22: Missing Piece

Garnet let out a loud grunt as she was flung off the great beast. She flipped midair and landed in a crouching stance. The hulking, lizard like creature reared back on it's two legs. Three pairs of arms split from it's abdomen and chest, each arm ending in three clawed hand. It's dark orange skin was spattered with brown and black dapples, and it's four eyes were like wells of blood. She sensed some form of monstrosity terrorizing the mountainside, laying waste to the forests on it's way to some form of temple, but this beast was still unexpected. Pearl threw her spear at the monster's right arm, stabbing through one of the hands while Amethyst used two whips to grab the pair of arms lowest on her body. Garnet adjusted her shades, and ran towards the monster again. The monster roared in anger, and thrust it's body downward, pulling Amethyst with her, and charged forward on all of it's arms. Garnet leaped into the air, her fist arched back as she readied a massive punch while the monster opened it's massive maw, it's brown, forked tongue lolling out, and leaped up to meet her in the air. Suddenly, from below the monster, a mysterious figure leaped up from underneath Garnet and kneed the monster in it's chin. The beast's mouth slammed shut, slicing it's long tongue in two and Garnet punched it in it's massive face. The beast's head flung back and it reared up on it's back legs again, trying not to fall over as it's back arched at a near impossible angle. Garnet landed on the ground and looked over to see the mysterious figure. The boy turned around to reveal himself as Tourmaline, wearing his usual smug grin.

"Tourmaline! What are you doing here?" Garnet asked.

Amethyst and Pearl ran to their sides.

"I thought you were at the temple in the sky with the other gems searching for the lighting sphere?" Pearl asked.

Tourmaline cracked his neck as he spoke.

"Yeah, I was. We breezed through it pretty easily. Nothing but small fry and some very simple traps. Hell you should've saved that for Steven. It would've been perfect for him." Tourmaline said lazily, "Nothin like that big guy over there.".

"Seems like we made a good call on picking this place over the temple." Amethyst joked.

"You didn't call anything, except for the coin toss." Tourmaline shot back.

"Well what did you expect to happen?" Pearl asked.

Tourmaline looked towards Garnet, and then back to Pearl.

"Yeah you're right, it was an even fifty-fifty chance with zero chance of anything else happening. She could've called it in her sleep. But enough talk, lets get this thing taken care of now. Ruby and Sapphire are cooking up some good stuff for dinner." Tourmaline said.

"Still don't eat, but alright!" Pearl agreed.

"More for me then." Amethyst said.

The monster fell back on it's feet and shook it's head. It let out a hissing roar and swung one of it's massive claws at the gems. They all jumped out of the way, with Tourmaline and Garnet jumping back in front of it, and Pearl and Amethyst jumping on the monsters back. Pearl pointed her spear at the monster's back, and let loose a barrage of lasers. each blast resulting in a massive explosion on the creature's back. Amethyst wrangled two of the monster's arms again, and pulled back as hard as she could. Garnet and Tourmaline rushed forward towards the shrieking beast. Tourmaline jumped up with his gems glowing, and did a spinning roundhouse kick mid-air, sending a wave of green energy towards the beast. It hit the monster in it's torso, and the beast let out another roar to the heavens. Garnet leaped up again to punch the monster through it's chest, but before her blow could connect, the monster threw it's head forward, spilling a torrent of blood from it's mouth. The thick liquid drenched Garnet, and sent her crashing to the ground. Garnet fell with a splat, the dark orange goo gluing her in place. Using it's free arm, the monster reared back and prepared to stab Garnet with it's claws. The beast was about to impale the helpless Garnet, but then Tourmaline managed to kick her out of the goo. Large strands of the orange mess stretched and tore apart as the blow went through Garnet's stomach. The two exchanged a look within the second before the tragedy came to be, Garnet's one a look of terror and Tourmaline's a look of morbid realization, and then Tourmaline took the attack.

"Tourmaline!" Garnet shouted.

The other gems jumped off of the monster and grabbed Garnet in midair. They brought her down and quickly brushed off whatever gunk remained on her. They looked over to the giant pointing hand obscured by dust and waited, terrified by what they were about to see. The dust settled, and revealed the giant hand stuck in Tourmaline's upper body. Pearl gasped as Amethyst grit her teeth, while Garnet clenched her fists in anger.

"Okay...it looks bad, but Tourmaline had to have taken worse wounds than that and recovered just fine right? I mean...he can regenerate entire limbs like-" Pearl shakily started.

The hand lifted up, picking up Tourmaline's body for a few seconds before he slid off of it's blood soaked talons. As he fell, the gems saw three giant holes. Two in his torso, and one where his forehead and scalp used to be. Then in the next second, his body burst in a cloud of dust, leaving his gems behind.

"Ooooh nooo." Pearl said to herself in a high tone.

The monster looked down at the two sparkling gems, and picked them up with two of it's claws. It brought the two gems up to it's eyes, admiring their sparkling beauty. Garnet rushed in front of the monster and extended her arms straight forward, aiming at the monster's head.

"Give him back!" She shouted.

With that, her gauntlets rocketed off of her arms and flew up towards the beast's face. The entranced monster was blasted right in it's face, screeching out and dropping the gemstones. Pearl and Amethyst jumped into the air to catch the gemstones, leaping off one of the monster's lower arms to reach them. Before Pearl could grab the first stone, the monster smacked her away with a mighty swing, sending her flying towards a tree. She grabbed onto a branch and swung around it, leaping back into battle. Meanwhile, Amethyst dodged the initial attack and used her whip to grab the first stone. She pulled it in and grabbed it with her free hand. She tried to grab the other one as she fell down, but the monster grabbed it first, gripping it tightly with it's massive fist. The monster quickly turned around, swinging it's giant tail towards Garnet and Amethyst. The force of the tail strike managed to send Amethyst flying, and it halted Garnet in her place. The beast shoved it's face into the ground and started digging downwards. Within seconds, the monster was completely buried, using a crack of it's tail to break down the remaining bits and chunks of earth and rock to cover it's trail. Garnet ran into the hole, punching and scraping away at anything that obscured her path, but she stopped when she realized it was fruitless. She sulked, and walked out of the hole and back to the others.

"It's gone...and so it Tourmaline." Garnet said somberly.

"We have half of him. That counts for something...right?" Amethyst said, trying to cheer her leader up.

"The monster was pretty wounded from the battle. I'm guessing that it will stay here for a while to recover. Plus, it didn't really seem like it was going to destroy Tourmaline's gem...he's probably still intact!" Pearl added.

Garnet straightened her posture and looked towards the other gems.

"But I lost him. After the talk I had with him and I just let him get hurt like that." Garnet said.

"He saved you...he was just doing what you would've done." Pearl said calmly.

"Maybe you're right. Either way, we're going to need some backup for the rematch against this thing. Pearl, Amethyst, you brief the rest of the gems while I track down where it went." Garnet said as she walked back towards the hole.

"You got it!" Amethyst agreed.

"Yeah...wait." Pearl stopped as she came to a realization.

Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other and exchanged a worried look.

"I'm not telling them what happened." Amethyst stated.

In the gem's home, Ruby and Sapphire have just finished making some lovely stir fried food. Steven and Taz had finished setting a few plates on the breakfast island, and Tanzanite and Tanza were sitting on the couch. They didn't eat, so they didn't do work, though they were happy to clean up after them. Suddenly, a light blue light illuminated the house, and all eyes were on the warp pad. Pearl and Amethyst were standing completely still with nervous smiles on their faces. Amethyst hid something behind her back and stepped forward with Pearl. Taz and Steven walked up in front of them with concerned looks.

"What's wrong guys? You look kinda...off. And where's Tourmaline and Garnet?" Steven asked.

"I...well, you see...it's a funny story." Pearl nervously prattled on.

Ruby and Sapphire turned away from the stove and looked over to them.

"What's going on you two?" Ruby asked.

"The thing is...there was a little...accident during the fight. Garnet got stuck in some sticky gunk, but Tourmaline got her out at the cost of.." Pearl started.

"He kicked her out and ended up getting hurt really badly and fled back into his gem. Then the monster stole one of his gems and ran away inside a mountain where none of us could find it." Amethyst finished.

Every single one of the gems had dropped their jaws. They all stared at Pearl and Amethyst, the two of them doing their best to save face and give them some hope to go off of.

"But the good news is that we're like...ninety percent sure that the monster won't break Tourmaline's other gem, Garnet is already attempting to track it down, and…" Amethyst pulled the large gem from behind her back, "...we have his other gem here safe and sound!".

The gems still remained motionless. There was an awkward silence for a good two minutes before Ruby and Sapphire finally moved and walked past Pearl and Amethyst. The two looked behind them to see the girls walking onto the warp pad.

"You guys going after Garnet?" Pearl asked.

"We are going to help her find Tourmaline. We'll be back once we have some sort of plan." Ruby said calmly.

"We'll see you when we can." Sapphire added.

The light from the warp pad enveloped them, and they disappeared. Pearl and Amethyst turned towards the other gems, who were still in shock. Amethyst's concerned look turned to a fake smile.

"So...hah hah, what's for dinner?" She asked.

Steven and Taz were building sandcastles outside in the front yard with Pearl, Amethyst, Tanzanite and Tanza. It had been three days since Garnet and the others had been searching for the monster that took Tourmaline's other gem, and they still haven't seen any of them. Tanzanite hasn't left Tanza side since then, doing her best to comfort her friend in these hard times. Taz and Steven have kept Tourmaline's gem with them the whole time, talking to it every now and then and making sure that it stays safe. As Steven and Taz scooped sand into their buckets, Pearl and Amethyst were discussing the matter at hand.

"You think the thing got Garnet, Ruby and Sapphire too?" Amethyst asked.

"It's a...possibility, but a very unlikely one. You know Garnet wouldn't walk into a trap when she has enough time to see it coming." Pearl answered.

"Yeah, but it's been three days man. Either that thing is deep up in that mountain, or it's somewhere deeper underground." Amethyst suggested.

"I really hope it's the former. It'll nearly be impossible to find him if the thing burrows too deep into the earth's crust." Pearl said, worried.

Meanwhile, up on the patio, Tanza and Tanzanite were down at the others. Tanza had a worried look on her face while Tanzanite had a sympathetic gaze fixated on her friend.

"Why haven't they come back?" Tanza asked her friend.

"You ask that question every other hour and I can only give you the same answer; I don't know, they're probably still looking for the thing's lair." Tanzanite answered.

"It's been much too long. What if his other gem got shattered? What if he-"

Tanzanite leaned forward towards her friend with an angry scowl on her face.

"Don't talk like that!" Tanzanite demanded, "You know damn well that Tourmaline would never die that easily!".

Tanza looked towards her friend with the same lifeless and sorrowful eyes she had since she heard the news of Tourmaline's fate. Tanzanite's angry scowl turned back to her sympathetic look.

"I keep telling myself that...but I still have this feeling that something terrible has happened. I want it to go away." Tanza admitted.

Tanzanite hugged her friend, and Tanza returned the embrace. Taz was looking up at her friend with her own feelings of sadness. Her train of thought was cut off by Steven's voice.

"Hey! Are you listening?" Steven asked.

Taz snapped out of her state and looked back to Steven.

"Oh I'm sorry Steven what were you saying?" Taz asked.

"I said what do you think we should make our sandcastle to look like? Should it be a big tall tower, or maybe we should make a statue of Tourmaline? What do you think he would like to see?" Steven asked.

"Can we...not talk about Tourmaline right now? I'm very worried about him, and the thought that he might be gone is hurting all of us a lot, especially Tanza." Taz said glumly.

"What makes you think he's gone? Pearl and Amethyst said that the monster probably won't break his other gem, so there isn't that much to worry about. We just gotta find it." Steven declared.

"What if the monster just ate his gem instead? What then?" Taz asked.

"I've been eaten by things before. Worst case scenario, the gems pull me out of the thing's stomach by force." Steven said confidently.

"Hmm, well...I'll do my best to be optimistic, for Tanza." Taz declared.

"That's the spirit! Now pick up that shovel and let's make something co-"

Tourmaline's gem began to glow a deep green. The two kids looked at it, and then the other gems noticed the gem glowing. Pearl and Amethyst ran towards the glowing gem, and Tanzanite and Tanza leaped off of the patio and towards the gem. They all circled around the glowing thing and looked down at it.

"You think Tourmaline's gonna come back?" Steven asked excitedly.

"I don't know what's going to happen!" Pearl answered, worried.

The gem the flew up in the air, past the gems and towards the house. The long then compressed itself into a tiny square. Steven ran around it while the other's stared in awe at the bizarre phenomenon. Steven rushed in front of the gem, putting it between him and the rest of the group. The glow from the gem then leaked out, exerting the visage of a tall, muscular man. The gem was stuck in the man's right arm for a second, and then the light from the body faded back into the gem, revealing the true form of the man. He fell to one knee, and remained there for a few seconds. Steven stared up at muscular man with an awe-inspired look on his face. Even kneeling down, he was taller than Amethyst. His head was bowed down, showing off his messy brown hair and revealing a pony tail bounded by a blue band. His skin was a dark green, and his pants were a long pair of black slacks that tightly wrapped around his legs. His shoes were a pair of almost black green boots. He slowly stood up from his kneeling stance, revealing his cut up and torn, ocean blue tank top. The man stood up all the way and looked down at Steven. Steven looked up to see his deep blue eyes, his bright green pupils staring right through him. He had a prominent chin and jawline, and on his forehead was a massive scar that dragged itself diagonally across his forehead and ended at his eyebrow. Before Steven could say anything, the man spoke to him in a rough and rugged tone.

"What is your name little boy?" The man asked.

"I'm...I'm Steven." Steven timidly replied.

The man kneeled down again to get more on Steven's level.

"Just Steven?" He repeated.

"Well, full name is Steven Universe. If you want the middle name, it's Steven Quartz Universe." Steven said jokingly.

"Quartz? As in...Rose Quartz?" The man asked curiously.

Steven's nervous smile turned to a look of concern.

"Uh...yeah. Rose is my mom. Well, was." Steven answered.

"I see. So Rose has passed away in the same way my wife has...how unfortunate." The man said solemnly, "But I take it you're the reason I was able to come back?".

"Uhhh, I guess? Like what do you mean?" Steven asked.

"You have Roses healing powers I guess, and because of you I lived once again." The man declared.

"I don't get what you're saying. I mean, you're a part of my friend right?"

"Hm?"

"You kinda...regenerated from a friend of mine. His name is Tourmaline and-" Steven started.

"I know who my own son is Steven." The man assured him.

Steven's eyes went wide with what he said.

"Wait...so that means you're…" Steven started.

"Jade." Pearl finished.

Jade stood back up and turned around to face the other gems. Pearl and Amethyst stared at the tall man, dumbstruck by the sight of their old friend, while the others stared on with mixed emotions of confusion and awe. Jade walked over to Pearl and Amethyst and looked down at them. Jade was around the same size as Garnet, and he hasn't changed since they saw him that fateful day. Jade smiled at the two of them.

"Pearl, Amethyst. It's good to see the two of you in such good health. I take it the war effort has been good for the two of you?" Jade said cheerfully.

"Jade I...well the war has been over for six thousand years." Pearl answered.

"You ended it that fast? I could've sworn they sent more gems in to attack, but I guess I guessed wrong. I'm assuming my incident with that little army and great beast was the most exciting thing to happen in all those years then." Jade stated.

"You could call it that." Amethyst mumbled.

"Real quick though, before we get to the matter at hand, I need to do something for the two of you." Jade said.

The two looked at him in confusion, but then their expressions turned to dread when he grabbed their shirts. With a mighty grunt, he turned around and threw the two of them into the hill's stone wall. Tanzanite got out her sword and pointed it at Jade's neck.

"Alright I don't know who you think you are, and I don't care if you're Tourmaline's dad. You don't get to hurt our friends like that!" Tanzanite shouted.

Suddenly, Jade yanked Tanzanite's sword out of her hands.. He then thrust the blade deep into the ground, and then bent it hard enough to break the blade, causing it to disappear. Tanzanite stared at him utter disbelief.

"It's not nice to point swords at your elders." Jade said sternly.

Jade began to walk forward, but Tanzanite skated in front of him.

"You're not going to do anything else to them!" She declared.

"Spare me the speech Tanza." Jade said.

Tanza flinched at the name drop.

"How do you know my name?" She asked.

"I have a few of Tourmaline's memories jostled in my head, so I at least have a rough idea of who you all are. Now step aside, I don't want to hit my son's future spouse." Jade demanded.

Tanza blushed at the threat. What did he mean by future spouse? Did Tourmaline really think of her that way? She shook off the comment and rushed towards Jade. He sighed and calmly walked towards her. Tanza skated across the sand and spun around to deliver a back kick. Jade merely grabbed her foot with one hand, the energy blade not even piercing his skin. Tanza stared at his calm face in panicked disbelief.

"Now if you can explain to me, in one sentence, what exactly you had planned, I may or may not go easy on you." Jade said.

"I was gonna kick you...and send you flying back...towards the others to restrain you?" Tanza clumsily spat out.

"Hm, good idea…" Jade started.

Jade flung Tanza back, sending her high into the air, "... poor execution.".

Jade, growing impatient of all the distractions, rushed towards Pearl and Amethyst. The two just recovered from the violent throw and just saw Jade rushing towards them. They summoned their weapons, ready to defend themselves. Suddenly, Jade stopped a few feet in front of them, staring them both down.

"Put those away. You already got what you deserved." Jade said bitterly.

"Deserved? What the heck are you on about!?" Pearl asked.

"For Aquamarine." Jade said coldly.

Pearl and Amethyst's determined looks faded to those of sorrow. They put their weapons away and walked over to him.

"We really did try to find her. She was our friend too." Pearl assured.

"It's...fine. It's in the past now. Now then...where is my son's other gem?" Jade asked.

Pearl and Amethyst dusted themselves off as they continued to talk.

"A monster stole one of the other gems away and ran off somewhere. Garnet is looking for her as we speak." Pearl explained.

Jade's brow tightened as he scowled.

"Show me where it is." He demanded.

"We won't know until Garnet shows up and tells us where to find it! I'm sorry Jade, this is as hard on you as it is on us, but we have to wait until we know what we're up agai-"

Suddenly, the door to the house swung open and out came Garnet, Ruby, and Sapphire. They all had frantic expressions on their faces as they searched for their friends.

"Gems, come quick! I know where Tourmaline's other gem is! But I need all of you to come if we plan on getting him out of there ali-" Garnet shouted.

She stopped shouting when she looked down at the beach and saw an old friend staring up at her with a stern expression. At first, she couldn't believe it. It was like she was staring at a ghost, but a few seconds went by, and she realized that this was no figment of her imagination.

"Hello Garnet." Jade greeted.

The gems met back at the hole where the monster escaped days ago. Garnet and Jade were standing next to each other, looking down the giant hole. Garnet managed to brush aside most of the debris with the help of Ruby and Sapphire. The beast had dug out a large portion of the mountain, so it wasn't hard finding the entrance to it's new lair, but they didn't dare to go inside, lest they ended up in Tourmaline's position.

"So, this is the way huh?" Jade asked.

"Yes, Tourmaline, well, what's left of him, should be in the beast's lair." Garnet stated.

"Alright then." Jade said bluntly.

Jade leaped down the hole and calmly walked down the dark tunnel. Garnet and the others ran behind them, with Ruby rushing to Jade's side.

"So Jade, if you're back...does that mean Aquamarine is back?" Ruby asked him.

"It's a possibility...and that means that she could be stuck with that thing!" Jade shouted.

Jade's idle walk turned into a massive sprint as he dashed forward. Garnet and the others ran after him, doing their best to catch up to his speed. A massive boulder rolled out from a loosed part of the tunnel, blocking their pathway to it. Jade leaped into the air, bringing his arm back and then punching the massive rock, smashing it into rubble with a single blow. Jade then stopped when he was met with a series of branching paths. He looked at every hole, his mind desperately thinking at which one he should go in. His frantic thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone touching his shoulder. He turned around and faced Garnet.

"Jade! I know you're worried about Aquamarine, but you can't just run ahead of us like that!" Garnet said.

"Yes Jade, this situation is as dire for you as it is for us, but we need to keep calm and assess the situation. We're going up against a very powerful foe that can easily crush-" Pearl said calmly.

"Let me run ahead of you! I know the way, so just follow me!" Garnet declared.

With that, Garnet leaped up into one of the top holes, and Jade followed her example. The others followed them, with Pearl picking up Steven, and Tanza picking up Taz. The group rushed through the tunnel and making it to a massive cave. The walls were covered with a mysterious, orange, luminescent goo covering the walls. The group gathered close around each other and looked all over the walls.

"Probably a dumb question, but you think this is the place?" Jade asked.

"Yep." Garnet answered.

Jade walked forward and looked at the massive gobs of mysterious goo. inspecting the mysterious substance. Tanza and Garnet walked over towards it, looking at Jade.

"So Jade...how does it feel being back in a new timeline?" Tanza asked.

"There are more important matters at hand, but if I had the time I would like to look around a bit." Jade said, "Like inspecting that weird metallic thing in your kitchen area.".

"You mean the sink? It's a device that dispenses water." Tanza said.

"It generates water?" Jade asked, looking at Tanza.

"No, it siphons water from a source deep underground." Tanza added.

"Hmm, this world is strange." Jade declared.

Pearl and Amethyst stared up at the ceiling, looking at the other gobs of goo while Ruby, Sapphire and Tanzanite looked at the other piles of orange slime on the ground floor. Amethyst was looking up at the other piles of foul gunk, when she saw something inside one of the piles. She did her best to focus on the object, and then saw that it was Tourmaline's gemstone encased in the orange mess. A gasp escaped her throat, and she let out an excited squee. The others looked at the happy little gem.

"Guys! I found it!" Amethyst yelled out.

The others looked up to where she was pointing to see the gem hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly, the entire cave rumbled. Rocks and stalactites shook and fell from the ceiling. Garnet and Tanza swatted a few rocks that fell towards the other ones. A massive shape crawled down from the ceiling and walked onto the floor. It raised it's torso up to reveal itself as the massive beast that had stolen Tourmaline away. The monster roared out in anger and the gems summoned their weapons.

"Get ready for a fight!" Garnet declared.

Jade then calmly walked past the gems, brushing off of Garnet. The others stared at Jade, and the monster looked down at Jade with curious eyes.

"Jade...what are you doing?" Pearl asked.

"This is what took my son down?" Jade asked.

"The thing is massive! And the only reason you're son got hurt was because he rushed in to save Garnet." Amethyst shouted.

Jade pinched the brow of his nose.

"If I knew something like this would happen when I wanted him to take after me I never would have opened my big dumb mouth." Jade sighed.

"Yeah it's ironic I know. But now you need to group up with us so we can fight this thing!" Tanza declared.

"No. You all need to stay back and let me take care of this." Jade said.

"What!? Put your pride aside and let us help you!" Sapphire shouted.

"Listen, I have been dead for five hundred years now. I finally managed to become a part of my son, and be with my wife again, and now both of them are in danger. I am pissed. And if you don't stay back and let me fight, I can't guarantee that I won't hurt you in the process." Jade stated harshly.

The monster thrust one of it's arms downward towards Jade, it's claws pointed forward and ready to skewer the distracted gem. Jade turned around and the gem on his arm glowed. There was a massive cloud of dust from the impact and the others looked on in terror.

"Jade!" Garnet shouted.

As the dust settled, the gems worried and terrified looks turned to ones of surprise. Standing perfectly still, holding something above his head, Jade blocked the attack from the great gem beast. Once all the dust cleared completely, it was revealed that Jade had brought his weapon out, a rectangular sword. At the hilt, the blue cross guard revealed itself to be in the shape of an incomplete star, with two corners branching out from the base of the blade while the other two spread downwards as if parting to let the grip come through. The dark green blade glowed brightly as it held the monster's claws in place.

"Woah." Steven uttered.

Jade reached up and grabbed one of the monster's fingers, and yanked downwards, ripping it from the monster's hand. The monster pulled it's hand back and shrieked in pain. Jade took the clawed finger and tossed it like a javelin into the monster's lower right arm's elbow, impaling the body part and causing the arm to go limp. Jade rushed forward at the monster, his blade pointing downwards and cutting into the ground. The monster thrust one of it's palms downward to crush him, but Jade leaped up towards the fist and swung his sword upwards, a torrent of green energy erupting from it as it cut and melted a hole through the monster's hand. Jade went through without so much as a scratch, and the monster shrieked in pain. Jade flew towards the cave wall, pressing into the giant surface and creating a massive crater from the impact, and leaped off of the wall. He jumped down and landed with a mighty stomp on the monster's back, causing it's legs to give out and fall to the ground. As the beast's head slowly fell down, Jade ran up the monster's back, dragging his sword on the monster's back as he ran up it, and leaped off of the monster's head. He flew up towards Tourmaline's gem, and thrust his hand inside of the orange goo. Yanking back hard, he retrieved his son's stone. He stared at it for a second, and then turned his attention back to the monster.

"Garnet!" Jade shouted as he threw the gem down towards her.

Garnet grabbed the gem and Jade fell in front of the others, facing the screaming monster.

"Hey Garnet, remember my old nickname?" Jade asked.

Garnet looked at him with eager anticipation.

"You mean the green blaze?" She answered.

"Yeah...that's it. It's been six thousand years since any of you saw me like that, and I'm sure my son would love to know what kind of warrior his dad really was...so I think it's time to give you all a reminder of that." Jade declared.

"Wait, so you just wanted to show off how strong you are?" Ruby asked.

Jade let out a loud chuckle.

"I think it'd only be fair that his friends get to see how great his dad really was!" He laughed.

"Alright, that settles it. You are definitely Tourmaline's dad." Tanza said.

"Heh, good to see that he didn't just get the bad from me." Jade said, "But enough talk, lets burn this place to cinders!".

With those words, Jade's gem and sword let out a torrent of green flames. The fire engulfed Jade and he let out a loud roar. The flames danced around him as he became a maelstrom of flame and energy. The monster stared down in terror as it witnessed the pyromaniac's roar change into maniacal laughter. The only things distinguishable about his form now, other than his clothes, were his blue eyes and his wide grin. The monster thrust one of it's arms down towards it in a sweeping motion, but it's hand melted as it came near him. The monster reeled back it's half melted hand and shrieked in pain.

"Oh come on now, that's just the pilot flame. Let me show you what it means to really burn." Jade said menacingly.

Jade rushed forward, fist held back and punched through the monster's abdomen, melting flesh and crushing bone as he ran through. He landed on the monster's back, quickly spinning around and throwing his arms out in front of him like a bird making a gust of wind, only here it was a sea of green flame. The gems stared up at the shrieking monster as the front of the beast was then covered in shadow, the light from the goo now taken away by the intense burning green that swallowed it's back. The monster stood still, paralyzed by the pain. Jade jumped up and grabbed the back of the monster's head, tackling it to the ground then leaping off and landing in front of the other gems. They all stared at the burning gem, struck with awe at his sheer power. He looked up to them with his burning eyes and grinned.

"It's time for the Hail Mary!" He declared.

Garnet looked at Steven and the others. She tossed Tourmaline's gem to Steven.

"Steven! Shield everyone now!" She ordered.

Steven caught the gemstone and looked up at Garnet.

"Huh? Why do I-"

"Do it now before everyone gets roasted!" Garnet shouted.

Steven flinched, and the others gathered around Steven. Steven looked at her friend with concerned eyes.

"But what about you!?" Steven asked.

"I'll be fine! If I can handle lava, I can handle his attack!" Garnet shouted.

Steven nodded and formed a bubble around the others, and packed them all tightly in a pink orb. Jade leaped into the air with his sword in hand. With his sword held skyward, all the green flames that encompassed his body went back into his sword. As it took the last of it's flames, it burst with green flames. He turned back down to the felled beast, trying it's best to get back on it's feet, and rocketed down to the monster like a meteor, sword going forward and creating a field of green energy and flames around his body. The instant Jade touched the monster's body, the sword burst, releasing a deluge of green fire. The fire engulfed the entire room and rushed throughout the remaining tunnels. At the entrance to the tunnel they came out of, the green flames came spurting out like a flamethrower. Steven and the other's stared in awe as the green flames danced and flew past them. Steven looked over to see Garnet shielding her face with her arms, barely withstanding the attack. A shadow came from the fire, appearing in front of Garnet and then disappearing. After a few seconds, the flames had completely petered out, leaving only a few green flames here and there, and the goo on the walls now burning away. Steven let his bubble pop, and the gems spilled out in a massive pile. Pearl and Steven looked up at Garnet. Her shades were missing, revealing her stunned expression and burned face. Part of her afro was burning and the rest of her outfit was singed to near ruin. From the smoke, Jade was standing with his sword slung over his shoulder with a massive grin and Garnet's shades on his face.

"And that's how I earned my nickname!" Jade proudly shouted.

Garnet walked over to Jade and took her shades off of his face.

"Give me those." She ordered.

"Heh heh, sorry I just had to see the look on your face when that happened." Jade joked.

"Well I hope it was worth it." Garnet said as she put the shades back on.

Jade laughed and then his smile faded into a serious look.

"So where's the gem?" He asked.

Steven came rushing forward with Tourmaline's gemstone.

"Here you go!" Steven said as he thrust the stone towards him.

Jade took the stone from Steven and stared into it.

"Time to go." He declared.

The others ran towards him.

"Aw man...you gotta go already?" Amethyst asked.

"Yep...time to go back to my son, and for my son to go back to you all." Jade said.

"So...Tourmaline's a fusion of you and his mom?" Steven asked.

"No, Tourmaline is his own person the same way that you are Steven. But ever since I was revived by you...I wanted to be a part of my son. I don't know why but I felt this attraction to be a part of him." Jade explained.

"I understand." Garnet said.

"Of course you would." Jade chuckled.

"But if you're a part of Tourmaline, why is he so much weaker than you? Tourmaline is strong but he could never do something like that." Ruby asked.

"As I said, Tourmaline is his own person. He isn't a fusion, at least not now. I have a lot of work to do before I can truly bond with him like his mother has. Besides, he's still just a kid. His potential is limitless...and he has proper guidance now." Jade continued.

Jade began to glow green, and so did Tourmaline's other gemstone. The gem on Jade's arm separated from his body and began to form into it's original form. Jade looked towards Garnet and smiled.

"Take care of him for me." Jade requested before turning into pure energy.

Jade's body turned into a shapeless mass of energy. It wrapped itself around the two gems and quickly formed into a body. The light faded from the body and revealed Tourmaline. He fell to his knees, and Ruby and Tanza quickly got him up. He stood to his feet with a groan, his eyes closed and putting a hand up to his forehead. He moved away from the two girls and shook his head. opened his eyes, revealing blue pupils in the middle of it's usual green iris. He had his father's eyes.

"Guys...where am I...what happened?" He groggily asked.

"Tourmaline...you missed one hell of a day." Ruby declared.


	23. Chapter 23: Remembering Who I Am

Chapter 23: Remembering Who I Am

Tourmaline roared out as he drove his fist into the wall of his room, shattering a large piece of jagged rock. He turned around and jumped up, then driving his knee into another obstruction jutting out of the wall. It had been three days since he came back, and he still was having issues taking in what he learned. His mom and dad were truly inside of him, they are a part of him that he had once conceived lost. Ever since that day, after reuniting with his friends for only an hour, he slid away and hid himself in his room. It took him a full day of stasis to only take in the very idea that his father appeared before his friends, but that one fact raised far more questions than his poor head could contain. The next day, he was still stuck in meditation, thinking about every single piece of information in his head, trying desperately to answer his own questions. The others would come in to check in on him, but to no response. Tourmaline let out a grunt as he slugged the wall, carving a perfect trench in the wall. His hands were bruised and twitching. He had been at this for a full day, non-stop carving his room out. He looked at the wall behind him to see how far his room stretched out.

"_Looks like the room's three times bigger now."_ He thought to himself.

"You finally taking a break?" A girl's voice asked.

Tourmaline quickly turned to the doorway to see Ruby staring at him. His tense demeanor faded into a relaxed slouch. Ruby walked into the room, looking at the stretched out walls and admiring Tourmaline's remodeling. She walked up to him and stared into his blue-green eyes. It felt odd, like she was looking into the eyes of a completely different person, but she reassured herself that it's the same Tourmaline she had always known. She turned her head away and looked at the carved hole in the wall.

"You know you can have the gems just remodel the room for you if you have an issue with it. It wouldn't take too long for them to do it I think." Ruby suggested.

Tourmaline glared at her.

"You know that's not the reason I'm doing this." Tourmaline said.

Ruby looked back towards him and frowned.

"Tourmaline, you know we can talk about anything. Why don't you come back to the house and we can talk it out? The others are a bit concerned about you." She offered.

"I'll come when I feel like it. I still have to think about this." Tourmaline said.

"You've been thinking about this for three days!" Ruby shouted.

Tourmaline had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Three days? Geez time sure does fly." He commented.

"You seriously didn't know?" She asked.

"You see a clock in here...or sunlight?" He asked back.

"Well you have room for one now." Ruby joked, "But I'll leave you alone...again. Just straighten things up soon, you should take a look in the mirror. And take a shower, you smell like Amethyst's room.".

With that, Ruby began to walk out of Tourmaline's room. Tourmaline let out a sigh and smiled.

"Hey come on, her room doesn't smell that bad." He said.

Ruby giggled and was gone. Tourmaline looked down at his gems and his smile faded into a despondent shell of it's former self. Tourmaline hung his head back and closed his eyes. The tall slabs on his shins began to glow their familiar green glow. And after a few seconds, the light faded away. Tourmaline opened his eyes and looked down...but his legs were bare. His eyes darkened at this unusual act. His grieves always came when he did this. For five hundred years they always came when he called them. Everything felt right, but they wouldn't come. He tried again, his legs glowed, but nothing came of it. He flexed his legs in vain, hoping that some sort extra force would happen, straining for his weapons to come forth, but still nothing. He fell onto his hands and knees and stared at the floor.

"_What is this? Why won't they come out!? What's happening to me!?_" Tourmaline screamed in his head.

Tourmaline lifted his head up and rushed out of his room. The crystal gems would know what was wrong with him. They had to know. Somebody had to explain what was happening to him or else he was going to lose his mind.

The gems were relaxing in the main house. All of them were gathered around the couch, waiting for Tourmaline. Ruby had told them that she spoke with him, so now they waited for to see if he would come to them. Steven and Taz eagerly stared at the door with worried expressions, but the others tried their best to act casual. They didn't want to frighten him with the impression of some sort of intervention. Amethyst nudged Tanza and Tanza looked down at the small purple gem.

"You think he's gonna be...weird about this?" Amethyst asked her.

"I'm sure he'll try to act calm. He's had plenty of time to think on his own and now he needs us. He always needs us." Tanza answered.

Sapphire looked over to her tall friend.

"Kid's got such a hard time. If it's not one thing with him, it's another." She commented.

Ruby looked down at the floor.

"Why can't he just be him, and happy for a while. No drama, no insane revelations, just him with us." Ruby asked them all.

"Tourmaline hasn't come from...normal terms. Things like these are sort of bound to happen, I think." Pearl stated.

All the other gems glared at Pearl. Pearl's figure turned tense and her eyes bulged.

"Not that that's a bad thing...it just comes with a lot of baggage." Pearl said.

The door to the temple opened up, and Tourmaline came running out. The others looked to see the panicked boy staring at them with wild eyes.

"Guys! I can't summon my grieves!" Tourmaline exploded.

The gems stared in disbelief. There was silence for what felt like hours, but Pearl broke the silence.

"Tourmaline...are you sure? I mean, are you doing it right?" Pearl shakily asked.

Tourmaline grit his teeth and stomped down into a crouching stance, cracking the floor underfoot. The others gasped at his sudden outburst.

"Of course I'm doing it right! I've done this for over five centuries! Just look!" He furiously demanded.

Tourmaline strained his legs as hard as he could, flexing every fiber of his muscles as he tried to force his weapons to come forth. The gems stared at him as his shins began to glow, and Tourmaline grit his teeth as he desperately tried to make them come. He was gritting his teeth so hard that they were nearly cracking, but the feeling in his mouth was masked by the pain coming from his legs. He ignored the pain and continued on, and then suddenly, there was a loud cracking noise. Tourmaline's eyes went wide and his body limp. The others stared in horror as they saw the light from his gems fade away, revealing both to have massive cracks on them. Tourmaline felt numb, and he slowly fell to the ground. Ruby and Tanza quickly moved towards him and stopped his fall. Each one holding an arm and a shoulder, they hoisted him up to his feet. Steven was the first of the others to get off the couch.

"I...can't feel my legs." Tourmaline panted.

"Don't worry Tourmaline, I got just the thing!" Steven assured him.

Steven licked both of his hands and then placed them on Tourmaline's legs, sliding them down the slabs so it got a nice coat of spit. Within seconds, another green glow came from his legs, and then the cracks were gone.

"Are you alright?" Tanza asked.

"I think so." Tourmaline answered.

"Can you stand?" Ruby asked.

"I'll try." He said.

The two gems let him go, and Tourmaline trembled a bit. The girls got ready to catch him again, but Tourmaline managed to balance himself out and stood straight up. He looked down at Steven and gave him a nod.

"Thanks Steven." He said.

"Tourmaline. Go wash up." Garnet ordered.

The others stared at the large gem. She was staring directly at Tourmaline.

"Take a shower and cool down. We'll talk with you once you're finished." Garnet promised.

Tourmaline stared at her with a sense of mild disbelief.

"But...but why don't we talk now? Don't you have all the proof you need? What else is there to think over-"

"Now!" She barked.

Tourmaline flinched at Garnet's sharp tone and then walked slowly into the washroom. Garnet got off of the couch and walked over to the breakfast bar. She leaned against it and heaved a sigh. Amethyst, Pearl and Steven walked over to their leader.

"Garnet, how bad do you think this is?" Pearl asked.

"I don't know. But one thing's for sure, he's changing. Just like Jade said, his potential is limitless." Garnet said.

"You think his weapon might be changing?" Amethyst suggested, "Since his dad's with him and all.".

"I don't know." Garnet repeated.

The others walked up to the crystal gems.

"This is very surreal. What are we going to do with him?" Tanzanite asked.

"I don't think there's anything we can do with him. This is a personal thing he's going through, right?" Topaz said, "We just gotta be there for him as this just goes through him.".

"Guys, guys, guys...I know what to do." Steven declared.

All eyes shifted to Steven.

"You do?" Ruby asked.

"Well, not exactly do to fix him, but how to talk to him. I have issues summoning my weapon all the time. So you guys can focus on this while I take him out for a walk and we talk about this stuff." He suggested.

The others looked at each other.

"You think it'll be good for him?" Pearl asked.

Garnet shrugged.

"Steven probably understands Tourmaline's situation more than all of us. But I should go with him too. A talk fusion to fusion might help him." She said.

Topaz and Ruby's eyes went wide with surprise.

"You're a fusion!?" They both exclaimed.

"I'll fill you in with the details later. For now, lets focus on Tourmaline." Garnet said.

Steven grinned.

"Alright, you guys go in the temple and talk about this. I'll take it from here." Steven declared.

The steam from the shower's hot water filled the small bathroom. The water cleansed Tourmaline's dirty skin and washed away his pungent smell. After a good amount of time, he shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. He took a towel and dried his soaking wet hair. Then he dragged the towel against his arms and then his upper body. He wiped off the rest of the water off of his gems and legs and then, with a glow from his gem, he managed to summon his normal outfit. However this act only managed to add onto his depression.

"_I can do this just fine but why can't I get my weapons?_" He thought to himself.

He moved towards the bathroom sink and looked at the fogged up mirror. He took his right hand and with one stroke, wiped away the fog and revealed his reflection. Tourmaline's eyes went wide as he looked into it, learning about the change in his eye color. He stared into the mirror as his reflection stared back. He stared at himself for minutes, never blinking, never moving, mesmerized by the new eye color.

"_This certainly is new...but why do they look so...familiar?_" He thought to himself.

Tourmaline scowled and finally looked away. He moved to the door and exited the steamy bathroom. A final waft of steam escaped out the door and faded into the normal air. Tourmaline walked into the living room to see it abandoned, save for a smiling Steven.

"Where'd everyone go?" Tourmaline asked.

"Oh they went to go discuss what's up with your gems, leaving me to have a good ol' heart to heart with ya!" Steven said happily.

Tourmaline grunted and started walking towards the temple door. Steven lost his smile and ran in front of Tourmaline.

"Where are you going?" Steven asked.

"To see what they're saying about me." Tourmaline said.

"But...no! You gotta listen to me! You gotta! I know all about not having my gem come out when I want it to, but it has come out for me before, a few times even! This is something we can talk about together." Steven argued.

Tourmaline stared down at the young kid with a stern expression.

"Fine then. I'm listening." Tourmaline said.

"You wanna talk? Great! Let's just go out for a bit." Steven exclaimed as he grabbed Tourmaline's hand.

"What? Where are we going?" Tourmaline asked.

"Just for a walk. It's nice out, and you like looking at the ocean." Steven said.

"Hmm, fair enough. Let's go." Tourmaline agreed.

With that, the two young boys exited the house, leaving the others to try to figure out how to fix Tourmaline's dilemma. They got out the front door and walked down the stairs to the beach. It was a bright and sunny day with the sea sparkling like a bed of diamonds. Steven and Tourmaline walked alongside the calm waves and began to talk.

"Look Tourmaline, I know it's annoying when your weapon doesn't come out, but it'll come to you sooner or later." Steven said.

"Yes but the difference between you and me is that I already managed to master my weapon centuries ago. Now it's like there's a glitch in my system." Tourmaline said somberly.

Steven looked up to his sad friend.

"Well weird things happen to gems sometimes." Steven said.

Tourmaline stopped walking, groaned and then fell onto his back, the sand making a light cloud of dust from the impact. Steven looked back at the collapsed young man.

"I doubt something like this might happen to gems." Tourmaline whined.

Steven walked over to Tourmaline's head and then picked up the upper half of his body. He dragged Tourmaline away from the water and dropped him back into the sand. Then he went a few feet to Tourmaline's side and laid down. The two boys stared up at the blue sky and sighed.

"How do you usually summon your weapon anyway?" Steven asked.

Tourmaline looked over to him.

"Well...I just think of all the cruel things people have tried to do to me. I remember every time someone tried to take my life and it just boils up inside until finally...it explodes out." Tourmaline said grimly.

"Woah...every time?" Steven asked.

"Well, not every time but a few of the worst moments in my life." Tourmaline said.

Steven paused to think.

"Well...maybe you need to do something to get the juices flowing? A kickstart to get yourself back in the groove of things?" Steven suggested.

Tourmaline's eyes shot wide open and he sat up quickly. Steven slowly followed his example and sat up as well.

"That's it...I need to do something to get a spark inside of me. I gotta get my blood boiling again! I gotta get in a fight!" Tourmaline declared.

"Uhh, Pearl taught me that violence is never the answer, but I guess that makes sense?" Steven commented.

Tourmaline jumped up and ran back towards the house. Steven got up and ran behind his friend. Tourmaline jumped onto the patio and Steven just made it to the stairs. Tourmaline rushed into the house and then into the temple with a huge grin on his face. He had to get to the others now, he was too pumped up to wait. Through the walls of the temple, he found a waterfall. Against the current, he swam up it. As he went higher and higher, the cave-like structure of his surroundings shifted into a nearly astral plane, with stars twinkling in a blackish blue void. Tourmaline saw a large bowl floating in the air, the water spilling from it being the source of his form of transportation. Tourmaline made it to the bowl's edge and grabbed on, pulling himself out of the water and into the calmer center. He looked around to see bowls similar to the one he was in floating in the void. There was one at the very top of room, and there he saw the gems. He grinned and got out of the water. He placed one foot on the water's surface, then another. He wobbled for a bit, but managed to balance himself out. He stared up at the bowl and leaped up to it. Meanwhile, the gems, oblivious to Tourmaline's arrival, were discussing the strange phenomenon that had befallen him.

"Do you think something went wrong when Jade fused back with him?" Sapphire asked the others.

"I don't think so. Tourmaline looks...mostly normal. Plus the last time a fusion with him went bad, we got Emerald. And it doesn't look like anything that drastic has happened." Pearl answered.

"This is starting to really tick me off. We gotta do something for him. If not to fix him then at least to help him keep his mind of this." Ruby suggested.

Suddenly, Tourmaline jumped up from one of the bowls and landed in front of them. The others looked over, surprised to see him in Pearl's room. They specifically selected this room because they thought he wouldn't be able to find them, giving them enough time to really discuss this situation.

"Tour...Tourmaline? I thought you were out with Steven." Tanzanite uttered.

"Was. Had a nice little epiphany while I was with him. Now I need to fight one of you! Anyone will do but I need to get into a battle!" Tourmaline exclaimed.

The others stared at him like he was a madman. They were perplexed by his strange proposal.

"Okay." Amethyst agreed.

Then all eyes shifted to the small purple gem. Tourmaline's grin grew wider.

"Alright, there will be no fighting until I get an explanation from you!" Pearl demanded.

"I need to replicate a situation where I summoned my weapon before. I need a fight for that to happen." Tourmaline explained.

Pearl looked at Garnet then back at Tourmaline.  
"Well...I guess that makes sense. But shouldn't you fight Garnet?" Pearl suggested.

"That's up to her." Tourmaline said as he looked at the tall leader.

Garnet stared down the cocky young man and and walked over to him. Tourmaline stared up at her and she looked down on at him.

"Let's do this." Garnet stated.

The gems gathered in the arena once again. Pearl and Amethyst brought Steven with them and the rest of the others, save for Tourmaline and Garnet, were sitting on the stone steps, waiting for the battle to begin. Garnet and Tourmaline faced each other, the feeling of nostalgia and anticipation flowing through them.

"I'm not going to use my weapons against you. It's an unfair advantage." Garnet promised.

"Do what you want. I just need something to get everything flowing." Tourmaline jested.

Garnet smirked.

"_At least the attitude is back._" She thought.

Tourmaline jumped back and put up his fists, shifting into his fighting stance. Garnet moved into her own stance and the two stared each other down. The energy from the two of them could be felt all the way to the bleachers. The others stared in anticipation. Despite the situation, they couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement as they awaited their friends to battle. Suddenly, Tourmaline rushed forward towards Garnet. Garnet remained motionless as she awaited Tourmaline's attack.

"_Will it be a jumping kick? A full frontal assault? The options are endless. Be that as it may, I doubt any of them will come be too hard to deal with. He may be strong, but he's yet to really prove much of a challenge in our other sparing matches. But if it's a fight you want Tourmaline, I'll give you a fight you're sure not to forget!_" Garnet thought to herself.

Tourmaline was a mere foot away from Garnet now. Garnet lashed out with a lighting fast punch, but Tourmaline saw the attack and responded with his own technique. Tourmaline jumped up towards the punch, placing both hands on Garnet's wrist as he flipped over her arm. Garnet looked up in perplexed confusion, and then felt Tourmaline's thighs wrap around her neck. Tourmaline looked like he was sitting criss-cross in midair, the only thing supporting him was his grip on Garnet. Tourmaline let out a loud grunt and punched Garnet square in the face. Then he unleashed a flurry of hooks to the giant gem's face. The others stared in amazement as the beating continued. Garnet grit her teeth in pain, but managed to bring her arms up and block the next two punches. Tourmaline, realizing he was set up for a counterattack, released Garnet from his leg lock. As he slowly fell back, he brought his knees up to his chest, and then shot his legs out like an arrow, planting both feet onto Garnet's chest. Garnet let go of Tourmaline's arms and slid back twenty feet, creating a set of trenches in the floor as she slid back. She shook her head and her shattered shades fell to the ground. The others stared in astonishment.

"He's...so fast!" Pearl gasped.

"Faster than I've ever seen him!" Ruby commented.

Garnet grit her teeth as she stared down her opponent, and he stared back with a cocky grin. She clenched her fists tighter and scowled at him. She charged forward at blinding speed, and Tourmaline charged forward as well. Within a few feet of her, Tourmaline kicked forward and Garnet dodged to the side. She brought her arm out in an attempt to slam it against Tourmaline's neck, but Tourmaline ducked underneath it and grabbed onto her arm. He yanked her towards him and Garnet started to fall to her side. Tourmaline then let go of her arm with his left hand and punched Garnet in her stomach, lifting her off the ground. Garnet winced in pain, but the impact allowed her to get back on her feet. She then tore her arm from Tourmaline's grip and delivered a vicious right hook to Tourmaline's jaw. His head swung to the side and then Garnet gripped his shirt, yanked him in and slammed her forehead against his. Tourmaline staggered back and Garnet got back into her stance. But she was surprised to see that, although he had stepped back from the blow, he stared at her with a disapproving gaze.

"What the hell was that Garnet?" Tourmaline asked.

"You always try new things, so I figured I should try something like that myself." Garnet answered.

"Not that, I mean what the hell's up with the power in your hits. That punch would have sent me spinning if you actually meant it. Are you even taking this seriously?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet loosened up and stared at him with a surprised gaze.

"Start taking this seriously. I need a fight that will get my adrenaline pumping, not a snore fest." Tourmaline demanded.

"We don't even have adrenaline." Garnet commented.

"You know what I meant." Tourmaline chuckled.

Garnet got out of her stance and stood up straight. She then walked over to Tourmaline and looked down at him. The two gazed into each other's eyes for a full minute. The other's stared in anticipation as the two warriors stared each other down. Suddenly, Garnet delivered a massive hook to Tourmaline's left cheek. Tourmaline's eyes shot wide open as he staggered a few feet back. Garnet stood motionless, her arm frozen in place as she stood like a statue. A small amount of green blood trickled from the corner of Tourmaline's mouth. His bored expression turned into a satisfied grin.

"That one was free." He taunted as he wiped the blood from his mouth.

"Just wanted to make sure it was good enough for you." Garnet boasted, "But that's enough talking!".

Garnet lunged forward and punched forward. Tourmaline swung his arm to the side to deflect the blow, but Garnet followed it up with another punch. Tourmaline backed up as he avoided each and every punch from Garnet.

"_Yes! This is good! Now I just have to find an opening to counter!" _Tourmaline thought to himself.

The others looked on with great interest.

"Man, Garnet's really going at it, huh?" Amethyst commented.

"She sure is. I just hope Tourmaline doesn't get hurt." Tanza added.

"Eh, worst case scenario Garnet breaks an arm and Tourmaline grows it back." Sapphire assured.

"Not exactly reassuring but alright." Tanza responded.

Garnet continued the assault as Tourmaline's cheerful grin turned into a serious scowl. He desperately needed an opening, but he was given none. Suddenly, he dodged one by bending his torso to the side, and Garnet, seeing the opportunity, thrust one of her fists straight down at his chest. Tourmaline's eyes went wide as he finally found his opening. He moved his feet back underneath him as the fist came down. The moment it touched his left breast, he quickly rolled his body across the fist. Before Garnet could react, Tourmaline spun in a full circle and brought his leg up, kicking the side of Garnet's head with the added force of her own blow. Her afro easily gave into the vicious blow and she fell over. She rolled for a good ten feet until she regained her balance. Tourmaline rushed forward and jumped up, his knee extended outwards and aiming for Garnet's face. Garnet quickly stood up and rushed towards Tourmaline, her arm extended outwards and this time slamming against Tourmaline's chest, knocking the wind out of him and pinning him against Garnet's arm. She then threw Tourmaline off of her arm and into a boulder, creating a massive imprint in it as the massive rock cracked. Tourmaline grit his teeth in response to the pain.

"_Good to know that she still hits like a tank. And takes hits like one too. But something's wrong...I should be pumped up. I should have the feeling I need with this. Why? Why isn't this working?_" Tourmaline thought to himself.

Garnet came charging forward, her right fist brought back. Tourmaline pressed off the crackling rock and ran towards Garnet. As Garnet thrust her fist forward, Tourmaline jumped back and lunged forward, head first into Garnet's belly. Garnet took the headbutt rather well, but the Tourmaline quickly got behind Garnet and grabbed her waist. Using all of his might, he flung her backwards in a massive suplex. But before Garnet's head came smashing into the ground, she brought her arms up and stopped the attack. She dug her fingers into the stone floor as Tourmaline tried to move her. Eventually, she jerked out of his grip and then clutched his head with her thighs. She then flung her legs back, tossing Tourmaline a few feet back. Tourmaline fell to his feet, but was struck dumb as Garnet's fist was a mere inch from his face. The next second, he felt his nose break and his head shake as the punch collided with him. A sense of pain vibrated through his body, but it still felt wrong.

"_This isn't right. This doesn't feel the same!_" Tourmaline thought.

Tourmaline just stood in place as Garnet punched him, only moving with her punches. The other gems stared at Tourmaline with perplexed confusion.

"Why isn't he dodging her? A punch like that would hurt but I doubt it would be enough to knock him senseless." Ruby wondered.

"Maybe he's just giving up." Amethyst suggested.

"Amethyst, you know that's not a possibility. He never gives up...right?" Tanzanite asked.

Meanwhile, the slugfest continued with Tourmaline becoming a human punching-bag. With his nose and mouth dripping blood, he felt like he was about to fall, and Garnet was ready to give him the death blow. She reeled back and thrust her fist forward as hard as she could. Tourmaline stared at it, awaiting the massive blow. Then, within an inch of his face, she stopped the punch and a maelstrom of wind came from the force of the attack. As Tourmaline's hair whipped and whirled from the wind, he looked into Garnet's eyes. They were cool, calm, with only a sense of determination within them. They were not like the eyes of those he had faced so many times in the past. And then he came to an epiphany.

"_Oh...I understand now._" He thought to himself.

After a second, Garnet lowered her fist and assumed a relaxed stance. She looked down at Tourmaline.

"This fight's over. If you're not going to take it seriously anymore, neither will I." Garnet declared.

Tourmaline looked down at the floor.

"You liar." He accused.

Garnet's eyes went slightly wide as the accusation sunk in.

"You never took this seriously." Tourmaline continued.

"What are you talking about? You felt those attacks. You know I wasn't holding back." Garnet argued.

"Then why did you stop that last attack?"

"Tourmaline if I let that punch go through, your head would be jelly right now."

"...And that's what I'm talking about. Even after all that, you still are holding back." Tourmaline accused.

"You may want a fierce battle, but I will never do anything that would hurt you like that. I refuse to!" Garnet declared.

"Which is why fighting like this is pointless." Tourmaline declared as he turned away from her, "I'm not going to get what I need here.".

Tourmaline then proceeded to walk away. The others leapt from the bleachers and towards the battlefield. Ruby, Tanza, Tanzanite, Sapphire and Taz landed in front of Tourmaline while Pearl, Amethyst and Steven made it to Garnet.

"Tourmaline what's wrong? You were doing so great and then you just quit half way. That's not your style." Ruby asked.

Tourmaline said nothing as he gently pushed her aside and continued his walk forward. Before Ruby could go after him, Sapphire put a hand on her shoulder. Ruby looked towards her friend and they exchanged an understanding gaze. They both then went back to looking at Tourmaline.

"_If you need to figure this out in your own way, I won't stop you._" She thought.

Tourmaline sat in his room, contemplating his fight with Garnet. It started out great, as their sparring matches usually do, but it didn't give him the same pleasure it did when he was fighting some monster or gems like Obsidian or Jet. The pain from her punches wasn't enough, there was no real sense of danger from the fight. It was too tame for him. It wasn't what he needed to push him over the edge. If he ever hoped to get his weapons back, he needed to have a fight that would not only be great, but one where he could die if he lost. But there's no way the other gems would let that happen. The moment he's in trouble, they'd come to his rescue, and that's if they'll even let him go out on his own. He groaned out in anger and punched the ground. He got up and walked out of his room.

"_I have to sneak out in order for this to happen. And that would mean burning time by hiding out in town, and then finding a monster...which the crystal gems will probably be all over before I can even get to it…_" Tourmaline thought to himself.

He stopped moving at this sudden realization. An annoyed frown grew on his face.

"_Damn it! Great...there goes that plan. Cause there's no other person I know who can kill me. Well, they probably could but they aren't willing to. There's zero chance that Jet would want to kill me...Sadonyx might be up to it, but by the way she was referring to me, I don't think she'd be a big fan of this proposition either. Pity too, she's one of the strongest gems I've ever fought, even if she was a super golem thing when I found her. But judging from that slug to the gut, she's probably a bit under Garnet, or maybe as strong as…_"

Tourmaline's expression lightened up as he came to another realization.

"_Obsidian. She was pretty strong when I fought her a long time ago, and she's probably even stronger now! She said that she had to restore her strength or whatever, but she's probably at one-hundred percent now. And I know that she wants to kill me, on account of me denying her her revenge and kicking her ass. All I gotta do is find her. A pain in the ass without a doubt, but a lot more likely that I'll find her before the others. Just gotta find a way to burn some time without looking suspicious...I guess I have some friends._" Tourmaline thought.

With that, he continued his walk out of the temple. Amethyst and Pearl were talking in the hallway in front of him, but they cut their conversation short when they noticed Tourmaline.

"Tourmaline? You gonna go hang with the others? Cause we were about to start a board game and it'd be cool if you-" Amethyst started.

"No thank you. I'm going out. I have to meet up with Buck, Jenny and Sour Cream." Tourmaline said.

The gems looked at him for a second as he walked past them.

"Is this about the fight!?" Pearl asked.

Tourmaline ignored her and continued towards the exit. He entered the house and saw his friends going through the closet for the previously mentioned board game. They looked at him as he moved quickly to the door outside.

"Hey Tourmaline! You wanna-" Taz started.

"No. I'm going out. Don't wait up." Tourmaline said coldly.

With that, he exited the house. The gems looked at each other, concerned for his friend.

"You think he's mad cause the fight was a flop?" Tanza asked.

"Nah, he's just frustrated with his current situation and doesn't want to let his angst out when he's around other people. So he's going out to vent or stew somewhere where he won't bother us." Steven explained.

The others stared at Steven, surprised at his little speech.

"What...what makes you say that?" Tanzanite asked.

"I talked to my dad about how teenage boys act so I could understand Tourmaline a bit more. A lot of it I sort of canceled out because he said it was because of hormones, and I don't' think gems have those." Steven answered.

"You think we should've told him he's still a mess?" Taz asked.

"Eh, he'll figure it out." Ruby said lazily.

Tourmaline walked into the big donut. Lars was sleeping at his post and Sadie was no where to be seen. Tourmaline walked up to the counter and slammed his fist down onto it. Lars jumped at the loud bang and fell down, hitting his head. He painfully got up as he rubbed his head.

"Ow, man. Did a car blow up in front of our shop or something? Or was it an earthq-" Lars groggily started.

Lars' eyes went wide as he looked at Tourmaline's stern, bloody face. His headache suddenly went away as his fear filled his body.

"I need something from you." Tourmaline stated.

"We don't have that much money but I'll give you whatever you want." Lars squeaked.

"What? No." Tourmaline said, confused.

Sadie ran from the backroom. She looked at the front of the store to find the source of the sound, and Tourmaline &amp; Lars looked at him.

"Lars! Did you break something, what was that noi-OH MY GOD!" Saide shouted.

"Sadie! Be careful, this guy looks like a real thug!" Lars warned.

Tourmaline turned to Lars and Lars flinched.

"What is wrong with you two? It's me, Tourmaline." Tourmaline assured them.

Lars got out of his scared position and took a closer look at Tourmaline. He squinted his eyes and then let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh...it's you. Steven's new friend right? Geez why are you here, looking like that?" Lars asked.

"Like what?" Tourmaline repeated.

Lars pointed at his upper lip, prompting Tourmaline to check his own. He brought a finger up to his nose and then felt a warm liquid. Then he realized that his nose was still dripping blood.

"Oh god! I'm sorry! I completely forgot that I was bleeding!" Tourmaline apologized as he grabbed for a napkin.

"How do you forget that you have a nose that bloody?" Sadie asked.

"I've had a lot on my mind." Tourmaline answered as he wiped his face.

"Alright then, so what do you need Tourmaline?" Lars asked.

Tourmaline balled the used napkin up and put it in his pocket and then looked back at Lars.

"You know where I can find Buck? Or Jenny? Or Sour Cream?" He asked.

"Oh...well Buck and Sour Cream usually just wander town, but Jenny is sometimes at Fish Stew Pizza." Lars said.

"Thank you." Tourmaline said.

With that, Tourmaline turned away from the counter and walked out of the store, "I'll tell Steven you two said hi.".

With that, Tourmaline exited. Leaving a confused Lars and Sadie behind. He walked across the street, the falling sun's rays reflecting against the ocean's surface, and made it to a building with a pizza that was also a fish.

"_Never understood business mascots._" Tourmaline thought.

He walked in and saw an empty restaurant. He looked around and saw a black teenage girl in a bandana over her hair, manning the register. Tourmaline walked over to her and looked at her. She was looking at the register, somewhat oblivious to him.

"Welcome to Fish Stew Pizza, what can I get for-" She started.

She stopped mid sentence, caught by surprise by the handsome man across the counter. His long flowing hair and blue-green eyes had her entranced.

"Yes.." Tourmaline paused to look at her name tag, "Kiki, I'm looking for someone.".

"Oh...well, I don't get off for another half hour, but if you want to…" Kiki started.

"Does Jenny work here?" He asked.

Kiki's smile faded to an irritated frown. She turned around and faced the kitchen.

"Jenny! You're boyfriend is here!" Kiki called out.

Jenny came out from the kitchen, curious to what her sister had to say.

"Kiki what are you talking about, I don't have a boy-" Jenny started.

She cut her sentence short when she saw her old friend. She ran through the kitchen, leaped over the counter and gave him a hug.

"Oh Tourmaline! I haven't seen you around in forever!" Jenny exclaimed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Things have been pretty heated lately." Tourmaline justified.

Jenny looked up at his face and her smile faded to a concerned look. She touched Tourmaline's upper lip and a little drip of his blood was on her fingertip.

"Your bleeding. Did you get in a fight?" She asked.

"Yeah, but it wasn't a big deal." Tourmaline said calmly.

"Who was it with?" Kiki asked.

"Garnet."

Both the girls gasped at the name.

"Yeah we had a little bit of a sparring match. Started out good but I stopped fighting her when I realized that it wasn't what I needed." Tourmaline explained.

"You needed a fight?" Jenny skeptically asked.

"No need to explain. You wanna go do something with Buck and Sour Cream? I need to kill some time." Tourmaline asked.

"Oh. Lucky for you we have something planned after I finish my shift. You think you'll be okay for a half hour?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, the more time we burn the better." Tourmaline said.

"Jenny! Kiki! Who is this man!?" A man's voice shouted.

The girls jolted in response to the harsh tone and Tourmaline lazily turned to face the source of the sound. He saw an angry, middle-aged man staring at the group.

"Jenny! What are you doing away from your station when we have a customer, who I see you hugging and touching!?" He shouted.

"Daddy! This is a friend! I haven't seen him in a long time and he came to hang out with me!" Jenny whined.

Tourmaline cut in.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to disrupt your business." Tourmaline said.

"If you wish to stay here, just pay for something. This is a business." He demanded.

"I don't want anything." Tourmaline stated.

"Well then you can go." He said calmly.

Tourmaline reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. Koffi's eyes went wide as Tourmaline handed him the bill.

"Will this cover letting me stay here for a half hour or more?" Tourmaline asked.

"I...I uhh." The man stuttered.

"Koffi! Let the boy stay. He's offering you a lot despite how little he's asking for and how short you have been with him." An elderly woman's voice said.

Tourmaline looked down and behind Koffi was a small, elderly woman.

"Mother! I...I apologize sir. You may stay here as long as you like." Koffi offered.

"Thank you. And thank you Mrs…" Tourmaline started.

"Just call me Nanafua. And you are?" Nanafua asked.

"Tourmaline. I'm a friend of Steven Universe." Tourmaline stated.

Nanafua looked up at Koffi with disapproving eyes.

"Koffi, how could you be so rude to a friend of Steven's? Steven's friends are always very nice people." Nanfua scolded.

"I...I didn't know!" Koffi defended.

"It's fine." Tourmaline assured.

Tourmaline walked over to a table, pulled out a chair and took a seat. Nanafua walked over and took a seat in front of him.

"So, how did you meet Steven?" She asked.

"I came to beach city seeking answers, and then I met him at the docks." Tourmaline answered.

"And did you find those answers?" She asked.

"I got a few questions but since then I got so many more." Tourmaline responded.

"Oh, well that's how life usually is." She said.

"Yeah, got some nice things along the way though. A lot of friends, a girlfriend, a new home. I can't really complain." Tourmaline boasted.

The mention of a girlfriend had Jenny pout and let out a frustrated grunt. Tourmaline ignored it as she stomped back into the kitchen.

"Well that's nice. A young man like you should have nice things like that in his life." Nanafua laughed.

"I'm not that young, but I see your point." Tourmaline chuckled.

"So why aren't you hanging out with your friends now? Aside from wanting to play around with my granddaughter." Nanafua asked.

"I need to kill some time. Waiting til my friends go to sleep so I can sneak in and take care of something. Normally I'd let them know what I'm doing, but I know for a fact that they'll disapprove of this." Tourmaline answered.

Nanafua's happy expression turned into a stern glare.

"In what regards?" She asked.

"It's incredibly dangerous and they'll want to come with me no matter what, but I have to do this on my own." Tourmaline stated.

The old woman's eyes relaxed and she looked at Tourmaline with a more relaxed gaze.

"Okay good. I mean that's kind of crazy, but if you believe that's what you need to do, then fine." She said.

With that, the door opened and in came Buck and Sour Cream. Tourmaline looked back and saw the two teens. Buck and Sour Cream smiled when they saw their old friend.

"Hey how's it going Tourmaline? You here for some food?" Buck asked.

"Nah, I need to kill some time and I figured it'd be nice to catch up with you guys." Tourmaline answered.

"That's cool. Be nice to talk with you again." Buck responded.

"How's the music going?" Sour Cream asked.

"Pretty nice. I bit a little more off than I could chew, but I find time to listen to my albums when I get the chance." Tourmaline answered.

"Very nice." Sour Cream stated.

Jenny then walked out from behind the counter, her work apron now off.

"Alright boys, where do you wanna go?" Jenny offered.

"It's been a half hour already?" Tourmaline asked.

"I'm known for helping the customers drain time." Nanafua boasted as she got out from the table, "Nice talking to you young man.".

"Hm, how about we let Tourmaline decide." Buck offered.

Tourmaline got up from the table and walked towards the door.

"Anything goes so long as we kill a bunch of time. I'd like to go home late tonight." Tourmaline stated.

"Alrighty, lets take a spin around and out of town. Don't wait up dad!" Jenny stated.

Tourmaline opened the door and held it for the teenagers.

"Steven's friend or not, you bring your butt home before eleven!" Koffi ordered.

With that, the teenagers were out, and Tourmaline let the door close behind them. The crew jumped into the car, with Jenny and Sour Cream taking the front seat, and Buck and Tourmaline taking the backseat. Jenny turned the car on, the engine purred and then they were on the road. Tourmaline stared out at the sea, with his hair whipping in the wind. Jenny glanced at Tourmaline in the corner of her eye and sighed.

"_Of course he's got a girlfriend._" She thought to herself.

Hours had passed since they left the restaurant. The kids were on an open road, driving past a large field of corn underneath the starry night sky. Tourmaline was still staring up at the sky, in the same position as he was when they just left, and the other kids were laughing and talking about random things.

"Oh man you wouldn't believe the turnout I got at my last DJ gig! There were so many people there and it was insane! One of the best raves I've ever hosted." Sour Cream bragged.

"Yeah yeah keep yapping about it." Jenny complained.

"Aw come on, I couldn't change the date by then. If I knew you couldn't come then, I would've rescheduled." Sour cream assured her.

"It's not that. I just hate this job sometimes. Nothing but surprise overtime every time I have plans. I swear my dad does it on purpose just to keep me under his control." Jenny stated coldly.

Buck turned over to Tourmaline.

"You alright Tourmaline? You haven't said much since we left." Buck asked.

"Hm? Oh sorry, it's just that I've been thinking." Tourmaline said.

Sour Cream looked back at Tourmaline.

"What're you thinking about?" He asked.

"It's just this thing I'm about to do. I'm going to do something very dangerous that could possibly get me killed, behind my friend's backs." Tourmaline stated.

The kids eyes went wide and then Jenny broke the silence.

"And uhh, why do you gotta do that?" Jenny asked.

"Something's up with my gem. I can't get my weapons from them like normal, so I figured the only way to get them to come back is to replicate the moment I first got them to come out. And I can't let my friends come with me to do that otherwise I'll never have them back." Tourmaline explained.

"Heavy." Buck uttered.

"Yeah, I'm sneaking back into the house later tonight, and then I'm off to face my challenge." Tourmaline continued.

"And you sure about this? I mean what if you're wrong?" Jenny asked.

"That's a chance I have to take." Tourmaline said coldly.

"But why do you need your weapons man? Can't you just be yourself?" Buck asked.

Tourmaline looked away from the stars and at the moving road.

"If I can't protect my friends then I'm just dead weight." Tourmaline said morbidly.

Sour Cream and Buck scowled at him.

"Dude! Don't talk about yourself like that!" Sour Cream demanded.

"Yeah, not cool." Buck added, "You got a lot more than just your strength man. I'm sure your friends know that. And I doubt that your friends would ever want something to happen to you.".

Tourmaline raised his head up.

"Thanks...but I need to do this. If not for them, for me." Tourmaline said.

"No one's stopping you. Just think about what you might lose before you throw yourself to the wolves." Jenny requested.

Tourmaline was silent. The others looked away from him. Jenny looked up to see the Beach City welcome sign.

"Hey, were almost back home. I'll drop you off at the beach, okay?" Jenny offered.

"You can drop me off at the first street we get to." Tourmaline requested.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes. You've done enough for me. Besides, it'll waste a little more time, just to be safe." Tourmaline said.

"Well...if you think you can make it home alright." Jenny reluctantly agreed.

They just entered the city and Jenny pulled up at a curb. The city was silent, with only the light from the streetlamps showing any signs of life. Tourmaline undid his seatbelt and got out of the car. He walked around the back and got onto the sidewalk. He started to walk home slowly.

"Hey Tourmaline!" Jenny called out.

Tourmaline stopped and looked back at the car.

"Be careful! Don't get yourself killed!" Jenny ordered.

"Kick whoever you gotta fight's butt!" Sour Cream shouted.

"Just win and get your weapon back man." Buck finished.

Tourmaline smiled and walked away.

"Don't think this will be the last time we'll hang out." Tourmaline shouted.

With that, Jenny pulled away from the curb and drove down a different street. Sour Cream and Buck looked at Jenny.

"You think he's gonna be okay?" Buck asked.

"Come on, you heard the confidence in his voice. He'll be fine." Jenny answered.

Meanwhile, Tourmaline slowly walked along the sidewalk. His smile faded into a stern scowl. He had to be serious. He had to face Obsidian with all of his strength. If he didn't, he would die and have nothing. The words of his friends echoed in his head. About how important he was to his friends, about what might happen with them if he's gone. He frowned at the thought and shook his doubts away.

"_I'm not going anywhere. I just need to get back something that I lost._" He thought to himself.

Tourmaline made it to the beach and walked alongside the calm waves. He looked to the side to see the ocean illuminated by the moonlight, and the rest of the water sparkling with starlight. Tourmaline looked back forward to see his home. No lights, no signs of life, just what he wanted. He quietly walked up the stairs and crouched under the window. He peered from the side to see inside of the house. No sign of his friends, and the only light came from the kitchen's microwave. He heaved a sigh of relief and moved over to the door. He slowly opened the door and carefully went into the house. He closed the door behind him and looked forward at the warp pad. He was almost home free, but then he heard a gentle growl. He looked over to his side to see Lion on the couch, staring right at him. Tourmaline slowly walked to his side, eyes locked with the pink beast.

"Easy...I just need to get to the warp pad...don't wake up Steven." He whispered to it.

"And why do you need to get to the warp pad?" A young girl's voice asked.

Tourmaline froze in place. His heart sunk to his shoes and slowly looked behind him to see Taz with a skeptical glare on her face.

"Taz. What are you doing up so late?" Tourmaline nervously asked.

"Waiting for you. The others said I shouldn't worry, but I couldn't help but wait for you. Besides I sleep out here." Taz answered, "Now answer my question: Why do you need to get to the warp pad?".

Tourmaline eased up and heaved a sigh.

"I think I know a way I can get my gem back. But I need to do this alone." Tourmaline explained.

"Why do you need to do this by yourself?" She asked.

"...I need to almost die for this to happen." Tourmaline answered.

"Why do you...how could you even...that's beyond reckless, that's just plain stup-!".

Tourmaline clamped his hand over Taz's mouth to stop her shouting.

"Shh, don't wake the other's up!" Tourmaline begged.

Taz took his hand off of her mouth, revealing a livid scowl.

"Don't you shh me! You can't do this Tourmaline! How did you even think about doing this?!" She barked quietly.

"I was gonna find Obsidian and fight her." Tourmaline answered.

"Then we'll find her together and then you can fight her! We won't interfere with you, but you can't go alone!" Taz offered.

"That's the problem, it's the security of knowing that you will save me if something goes wrong that's holding it back. I need to cross the line, and I need to feel a real fear for it to happen." Tourmaline protested.

"But...it's practically suicide!" Taz argued.

"Exactly." He responded.

"No...no! I won't let you go! I'll stop you here!" Taz threatened.

She leaped back and her gems began to glow. Tourmaline glared at her.

"Taz...move now." He said menacingly.

"I will not! Think about this. You're going against a really hard opponent, who you managed to win against only because she was weakened...and with your weapons! What can you do against her without your weapons?" She asked.

Tourmaline stopped his tense stance and loosened up. His stern glare faded into an understanding smile.

"You know what...you're right. What can I do without my weapons?" Tourmaline said happily.

Taz let out a sigh of relief and the glow from her gems faded. She walked over to Tourmaline and hugged his legs.

"Thanks for understanding. We'll talk to the gems right now and we'll figure something out for you." Taz promised.

"Yeah, cause what can I do without my weapons?" Tourmaline repeated.

Taz looked up at him with a concerned gaze. Before she could speak, Tourmaline delivered a vicious chop to her neck. Taz tensed up as the pain circulated through her body. Her legs and eyes grew heavy, and then her whole body gave out. Before she fell to the floor, Tourmaline picked her up by her body. He then moved her over to the couch and gently laid her down. He opened the closet and pulled out a spare blanket, sloppily unfolded it and then covered the unconscious Taz with it.

"That...I can do that without my weapons." Tourmaline said.

He looked over to Lion. Lion stared at him with it's usual blank expression.

"This has to be our secret Lion." He said.

Lion yawned and then put it's head against Taz's. Tourmaline turned around and then walked towards the warp pad. He stepped onto it, and then a light encompassed him.

"_Well if I can't find Obsidian, I'll at least have a battle to the death with Tanza._" Tourmaline joked with himself.

Tourmaline arrived at a tropical island. He had been searching for over an hour. He searched a mountain in the sky, the repaired magma temple, and the warp tower, but no sign of Obsidian. He was growing tired of his wild goose chase, but he couldn't stop. He was too far into it now, and he really didn't want to face Tanza if Taz came to and told her everything. Suddenly, he saw a massive column of flame. Tourmaline stared up with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

"_Please don't be a volcano_." He thought to himself.

He ran through the thick foliage and made it to the island's beach. He looked to his side to see the tall, dark and muscular form of a gem. Her clothes were different, but it was unmistakably her. Tourmaline felt his blood begin to boil and a rush of euphoria spread out through his body. He slowly walked towards her while she fiddled with something.

Obsidian was sucking the heat out of a bit of molten glass, revealing the orange form of a fish. She placed it on a rock, along with her other glass figures. A shrine of birds, fish, and stars were all bunched up in a small alcove. She heaved a satisfied sigh as she looked down at her collection.

"They all look very nice." A boy's voice commented.

"Thanks." She responded.

A surprised expression came onto her once calm face and she looked to her side. Tourmaline looked up at the tall dark gem.

"Long time no see." Tourmaline greeted.

A furious scowl came onto her face and her red markings came from her skin.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" She shouted.

"I figured you had enough free time to charge up and then I decided it was time for round two." Tourmaline taunted.

"Well you're right. In the time it took for you to find me, I have amassed enough power to crush you and Garnet at the same time!" She boasted.

"Ooo, scary." He laughed.

She swatted at him, swinging her arm to the side at an insane speed. Tourmaline managed to duck in time, and the force from her arm created a small storm of dust and sand.

"_Woah, she wasn't kidding when she said she got stronger._" Tourmaline thought.

Obsidian stared down at him with hateful eyes.

"You ready to die kid?" Obsidian asked.

"Been waiting for those words all day." Tourmaline joked, "But let's move somewhere else first.".

"You want to lure me into a trap?" She questioned.

"No, I'm by myself. I just don't want you to break your collection is all." Tourmaline answered.

Obsidian looked back at her glass figures and back at Tourmaline. The two gazed into each others eyes, hers filled with malice and his filled with determination.

"Hrnn, fine. Just move to the other side of the island." Obsidian requested.

Tourmaline turned around and started running down the beach. Obsidian followed close behind him. She looked at Tourmaline's back and scowled a bit.

"_What the hell is this kid trying to prove? This some sort of game to him? And what's up with his eyes? I don't remember any sign of blue in them. Eh, I'll ask him when I have him pinned under my heel._" She thought to herself.

After a few minutes, they stopped at a particularly crowded bit of the island. The beach was littered with small boulders, each one tall as a bus and as wide as a car was long. Tourmaline turned around to her and stared his opponent down. He backed up a few feet, giving her some distance, and she grinned. The gem on her stomach glowed and out came her signature hammer. She held the massive thing with one arm and continued to stare at Tourmaline.

"Not gonna lie, I was hoping to fight you before I got to Garnet." Obsidian admitted.

"Oh, I'm honored! Why's that?" Tourmaline asked.

"Simple, you actually managed to piss me off more than she did.".

"Wow, do I really make you feel like that? Cause when I see you in this situation, I have this sudden feeling of...euphoria!" He said gleefully.

"Keep that feeling in your heart boy. It's going to corrode with pain and desperation in a few minutes." Obsidian said menacingly as she pulled her massive hammer from her gem.

Tourmaline's grin grew wider.

"Yes, yes, **YES**! This is what I need! A battle to the death, a fight to the finish!" Tourmaline shouted.

"Time to break you." Obsidian stated.

Tourmaline rushed forward, but then Obsidian dashed forward towards him. Tourmaline looked up at her in surprise, and then felt her fist in his stomach. She sent him flying backwards and into a boulder. He made a deep imprint in the great rock, it nearly rolling backwards. His eyes were still wide open from the shock.

"_Don't remember her being so fast._" He thought.

Obsidian stomped towards Tourmaline, holding her massive weapon with one hand. Tourmaline pried himself off of the rock and looked up at at Obsidian. Her foot was raised up high, and she brought it down to stomp on his head. Tourmaline rolled to the side and onto his feet, dodging the attack and then lunging towards her head. He punched her face, but there was no effect. Tourmaline shuddered in response, and Obsidian lazily glanced over to him.

"What's wrong? I don't think you're really giving me your all." She taunted.

She slapped Tourmaline off of his feet with a back fist, and then before he could hit the ground, she grabbed his face with her massive hand. She picked up the much smaller gem by his head, her nails digging into his skin, and started to squeeze his skull. Tourmaline grit his teeth in pain but managed to bring his knees up to his chest and then shoot his legs out onto Obsidian's face. Obsidian released Tourmaline's head and took a step back. Tourmaline landed and immediately rushed into her. Letting out a loud roar, he thrust his foot into her gut. He began to repeatedly kick her stomach and legs, letting loose a flurry of attacks, but to no apparent effect on her. The giant then grabbed his leg and picked him up again. She brought him up high enough so his face could reach her own.

"Stop messing around. You have more power than this, I know it. Summon your weapon and lets get serious." Obsidian demanded.

Tourmaline swung back and then forward, slamming his head into her nose. He looked at her face again to see he only succeeded in giving her a bruise on her nose and an irritated glare.

"Or we can get serious now." She said sternly.

She turned towards the boulder and swung Tourmaline into it. She shattered half of it with one mighty swing. Tourmaline screamed out in pain as he felt the massive rock turn to rubble underneath his back. She then swung him back into the air, and then whipped him down to the beach. An explosion of sand came from the sudden explosion and Tourmaline felt his body tingle from the intense attack. He looked to the side to see a jagged piece of stone. He quickly grabbed the rock as Obsidian picked up him up by the shirt. She dropped her hammer and threw Tourmaline to the ground. He fell on his knees, but then Obsidian had him in a back hold. Using her massive muscles, she started to crush Tourmaline's torso. Tourmaline yelled out in pain as he felt his ribs being squeezed. He gripped the jagged stone in his hand and thrust it back towards Obsidian.

"_Please be sharp enough._" He prayed.

The pointy end of the stone pierced through Obsidian's skin and sunk itself deep inside of her thigh. She yelled out in pain, letting go of Tourmaline's chest and falling down on one knee. Tourmaline took his opportunity and got up from under Obsidian, and then thrust his elbow back into her face multiple times. He slammed into her nose twice and her eye once. He then spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of her head. She fell over from the attack and then Tourmaline started stomping on her stomach. Obsidian grit her teeth and rolled away from one of Tourmaline's stomps. She got to her feet and thrust her head forward, slamming her head into Tourmaline's. Tourmaline flew back a few feet, and Obsidian walked away and grabbed her hammer. She turned towards Tourmaline with newly found hatred. Tourmaline looked up to see her nose and left thigh dripping orange blood, her right eye a bit blacker than the other, her markings glowing much brighter than before, and her hammer in her hands.

"No more! Time to die!" She declared.

With that, an intense flame came from her hammer, and her mouth. She let out a terrifying roar as a cloud of flame and smoke erupted from her mouth. Tourmaline gazed at her with a new sense of fear. He was struggling against her without her hammer, and now she's going all out. Before he could respond, she grabbed her hammer, brought it over her head and swung it down, sending a wall of fire towards him. Tourmaline jumped over the flames, only to be met by Obsidian in the air. She swung her hammer at him, hitting him square in the head, and he was sent hurtling back down to the beach like a meteor. Tourmaline hit the ground and then skidded a good thirty feet, making a massive trench in the beach. Obsidian landed harshly and ran towards Tourmaline. Tourmaline's face was now covered with his own blood as his cracked head bled out. He painfully rose up to see Obsidian charging at him, her hammer geared to strike. Within a few feet of him, she swung her hammer to the side, but he rolled under the strike and between her legs. He swung around to kick her ribs, but she countered by spinning around and slamming the top of his foot with her elbow. Tourmaline yelled out in pain as his attack was deflected, and Obsidian faced him, looking down at the small gem.

"Why aren't your weapons out? Are you still not taking me seriously!?" She roared.

Before Tourmaline could respond, she swung her hammer right into his torso. Tourmaline's eyes bulged out as he felt his ribs crack and the wind being knocked out of him. She threw him off of the massive thing and into a boulder. The already damaged thing caved in more as the imprint he had made before became deeper. Obsidian then rushed towards him, and punched him square in the face. Obsidian repeatedly punched the trapped gem's face, shattering his nose, pressing him deeper into the boulder and making his already bloody face even more gruesome. When she finally stopped, most of his head was stuck inside of the rock. She then brought her hammer up and smashed the boulder, along with Tourmaline. As the dust settled, it revealed that Tourmaline was pinned down, his torso being crushed by the hammer. Blood spilled from every bit of his face as he screamed out in agony. Obsidian flashed a sadistic grin.

"This has been fun, but I think it's time to end this." She declared, "Good-bye boy.".

Her black hammer glew bright red, and she took a deep breath. Then, both her and her hammer expelled a torrent of flame. Tourmaline's screams elevated as his body burned like wood. After a few seconds of the extreme attack, the flames dwindled away. She removed her hammer to look at the charred, bloody body of Tourmaline. She let out an irritated grunt and turned away from him.

"And to think I ever viewed you as a threat." She mocked.

Tourmaline laid in the pile of scorched sand and glass for a second. For a bit, he thought he couldn't move. His right arm was completely useless, as her hammer strike shattered his right shoulder, all of his ribs were either cracked or broken, one of his eyes was seared shut, there was probably more blood coming out of his mouth and covering his neck than what was left in his head, he could barely feel his legs and his shirt was completely burned off. He closed his eyes for a second, wanting to desperately just sleep and hope that this all would disappear in the morning, but he knew that wasn't an option. He couldn't come back to his friends, mutilated and a failure. He couldn't let his friends down and remain half the gem he used to be. He couldn't lose now, he refused to lie down gaining nothing. He managed to slowly get back onto his feet, and stared at the massive gem slowly walking away.

"Hey...we're not done yet." He declared.

Obsidian tensed up and looked back with a mixed expression of fear and surprise. Tourmaline slowly staggered towards her, gripping his limp arm with a pained but determined expression on his face.

"What are you gawking at!?" He shouted.

Obsidian took a step back as her fear of him slowly began to grow. No gem would ever get up from an attack as vicious as that, especially after the beating he received prior.

"What...you think that I would just lay down and die from an attack like that? That was pathetic!" He yelled at her.

Obsidian's fearful expression turned to one of black hate and rage. She gnashed her teeth at her as she growled. Her muscles were all flexed out to the point that they looked like they were going to tear her skin away. But Tourmaline still stared at the massive gem with the same determined eyes.

"You know the difference between me and you? You have nothing! You fight only for your selfish ambitions. I on the other hand, have every reason to fight! My friends, my love, my home, my family, all of these I have to stand up for! I am their protector, I am their guardian! I! AM! TOURMALINE!" He screamed.

"If you're going so far for them, then die for them!" She demanded.

Obsidian rushed towards him, her hammer in hand and ready to strike him down. Tourmaline ran towards her, ignoring his pain, his right arm flailing in the wind, and charged forward. Tourmaline and Obsidian were a foot away from each other, and each of them assumed their own stances. She swung from the left of him, and Tourmaline was ready to give her everything she could with one final kick. If this was going to be his final battle, then he was going to give her everything he had. He swung his arm towards the face of her hammer, pressing as hard as he could against it in an attempt to knock away her attack and retaliate with his own. As soon as this exchange started, Tourmaline's legs began to glow bright green. As soon as his arm hit the face of her hammer, he strained as hard as he could to send the attack away. To Obsidian's surprise, her attack was stopped by his arm. The next second, her hammer was flung away and then Tourmaline delivered a high kick to Obsidian's head. But as his foot approached her head, a long, familiar extrusion came from the top of his foot. Inches away from her face, the light from his legs disappeared and revealed his grieves. The once all bright green blade now had a blue lining along the edge of the blade, and his heel was completely aqua blue. The once clunky shin guards were now two perfect slabs of deep green that wrapped around his legs perfectly, shielding his gems from any attack. With the new transformation, Obsidian felt the newly formed blade sink into her cheek, and then the impact from his kick sending her spinning through the air. She bounded against the beach like a ragdoll, and then stopped when she slammed into a tree. She painfully rose up, her right cheek now a giant, bloody hole in her face, and faced her attacker. Her angry glare faded into a gaze of awe as she stared at Tourmaline's true form. Beaten to a pulp, burned to a crisp, his arm now completely useless, and yet there he was, standing tall with his weapons as proudly as he could.

"_Incredible._" She thought to herself.

Tourmaline's serious gaze averted from Obsidian and to his gems. He looked down to see his new grieves, and then looked back at Obsidian. Obsidian got to her feet and stared down her opponent. Her hammer was a good ten feet away from her. If she played it smart, she could dodge his next attack and grab her weapon. He may be finally taking the fight seriously, but he was still very injured. She could still win. But before she could react, Tourmaline was already a foot away from her. She stared at the boy in fear, and then he leaped up at her. He latched onto her body and tackled her to the ground, wrapping his arm around her chest and his legs around her body. Obsidian fell to the ground, confused by the attack.

"_What kind of attack is this? No...this isn't an attack. Is this...a hug?_" She thought to herself as she felt Tourmaline squeeze her tightly.

Tourmaline let out a small chuckle, but then erupted into a loud, cheerful laugh. Obsidian slightly winced in pain as Tourmaline's heel blades slightly dug into her back. He let go of her and moved the blades from underneath her and looked her in the eyes.

"Thank you Obsidian! Thanks to you, I can finally summon my weapons again!" Tourmaline exclaimed.

Obsidian looked up at him with a confused expression. She then sat up and Tourmaline fell onto her lap.

"What? You mean to tell me all that time you weren't holding back?" Obsidian asked.

"Nope! I took this fight seriously one-hundred percent from the very beginning. My only handicap was that I couldn't summon my grieves. This problem has been persistent with me all day, and I figured the only thing that could get me going was a situation similar to how I first got my weapon; a huge fight and a near death experience. I could get one from Garnet, but she couldn't get me the other, so I had to sneak behind everyone's back to find you! The only person in the world I knew who was just as strong, if not stronger than me, and also wanted to kill me! And thanks to our fight, I'm back to normal!" Tourmaline excitedly explained.

Obsidian smirked at the joyous gem. The boy who was enemy a few seconds ago was now thanking and hugging her like she was his closest friend. She then chuckled at what he had just said.

"_I did something that Garnet couldn't do? What a treat._" She thought.

Tourmaline got off of her and then made his grieves disappear. Then, with a second flash of green, they were back. He jumped for joy and thrust his fists up to the sky as he cheered to himself. Obsidian got up and walked to her hammer. She picked up the massive thing and then sent it back into her gem. Tourmaline stopped cheering and then turned over to the smiling Obsidian.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"You got what you want, so I'm not going to fight you anymore. I don't want to spoil the mood you have going on now." She answered.

"You're not going to spoil the mood by doing that. I want to continue fighting you. Now that I have my grieves, we can have a fair fight." Tourmaline said with a cocky grin.

Obsidian's happy gaze turned to one of surprise again.

"Really? But...it still wouldn't be a fair fight. Your arm is completely busted." She pointed out.

Tourmaline looked at his limp arm and smiled again.

"What this? This is an easy fix." He boasted as he grabbed the limp arm.

With one jerk, her tore off his arm and threw it into the ocean. Obsidian's eyes grew wider as she witnessed the bizarre act, and then, with a loud grunt, a new arm covered in green blood shot out from his stump. Obsidian's jaw hung slack as she stared in awe at Tourmaline. Tourmaline jabbed the air, shaking the blood off of his arm and warming up his new arm. Tourmaline grinned at her and turned his whole body towards her.

"Anymore handicaps that I should fix?" He asked.

Obsidian grinned back at him.

"No. We're on even grounds now." She answered.

"Good. Now then, let's make this fun." He requested.

Obsidian pulled her hammer from her gem, and held the massive thing in both hands. The two locked eyes, both with ecstatic grins on their bloody faces. But Obsidian couldn't help but feel this sort of primal uneasiness coming from his gaze.

"_Those eyes...they're different. Something about his posture, his gaze, it's like he's a completely different person._" She thought to herself.

She slid her foot forward an inch, and then Tourmaline launched himself at her. Instinctually, she slammed her hammer down in front of him, but Tourmaline managed to run under the strike, wedging himself between her and the head of the hammer. He crouched down, and jumped straight up, slamming his head into the bottom of her jaw. Then while midair, Tourmaline slid forward, slamming the back of his thighs onto Obsidian's shoulders and then slamming his heel blades into her back. She let out a pained grunt and then, with a loud roar, Tourmaline started slugging away at her face. Tourmaline continued the slugfest for a good thirty minutes, then pulling the blades from out of her back, and while gripping onto her shoulders, brought his knees to his torso and then slammed his feet into Obsidian's face at point blank range. The now bloody head of Obsidian flew back, causing her to flip backwards three times before she caught herself in a kneeling position. Tourmaline was in his fighting stance, staring down at her with a cocky grin.

"_What the hell happened to this kid? Did getting his weapons back really boost him up so much? Cause he was no where near this strong when he started out!_" She thought to herself.

She got back up to her feet and ignited her hammer. She slammed it down sending a wave of flames at Tourmaline. Tourmaline merely smiled at the attack and made his grieves glow. He then ran into the wall and and jumped up doing a spin with both legs in midair. The force built up in the weapons burst out, and Tourmaline became a spinning top of destruction. Obsidian gazed in awe as her attack was blown away by his. His helicopter like attack didn't stop there, as he traveled through the air like a jet and the first kick knocked into Obsidian's arm. And then she was sent flying backwards as she took a kick every second from the whirling wheel of death that was once Tourmaline. With the final kick, a wave of green energy came out and sent her flying with it. Tourmaline looked at her opponent fly through the air, but then came to a horrific realization. He sprinted forward, trying desperately to outrun his own attack. Within seconds, he was able to gain some distance between him and the missile that was once Obsidian. Tourmaline stood his ground in a sturdy stance as he waited to catch her. His grieves glowed and the blades from the front of his foot and the heel slid downwards and cut into the sand, hoping to help their master stop from moving too far with her. Tourmaline glanced down to see the new action.

"_Huh, that's ne-_"

Obsidian slammed into him and he began to press against the overwhelming force. He growled and grunted as he tried to stop the attack. The two of them flew across the beach for a good minute, racing across the sandy bed at the speed of a cheetah. But eventually the attack dissipated, and Tourmaline began to slow down. He bent over as he hoisted up the massive gem, and eventually the two of them stopped. He let out one final grunt, and tossed Obsidian back to the ground. She got up and stared at the exhausted gem.

"Why did you do that? You won with that attack, there was nothing else you had to do." She asked.

Tourmaline stepped aside and revealed her glass collection. With this, her eyes went wide again and she looked up at the now smiling Tourmaline. He had risked injury to not only save her, but save her collection. She let out her own laugh this time and Tourmaline fell on his butt, laughing along with her. The two laughed for ten seconds straight, eventually stopping and looking at the sea.

"So, I won huh?" Tourmaline asked.

"Without a doubt." She answered, "That was incredible.".

"Well I have to give credit where credit is due. You did an amazing job as well." He complimented.

She let out another chuckle, and the two of them looked out at the ocean.

"Hey Obsidian?" He uttered.

"Yes Tourmaline?" She responded.

"Why do you hate Garnet so much?"

"Well...because she imprisoned me in that bubble for three centuries."

"Why?"

"Because I...I think I might have tried absorbing the heat of the earth's core."

Tourmaline stared at her with a perplexed expression.

"Why would you do that!?" He asked.

"Because it's how I got so strong. I absorb the heat of planets and it increases my strength. Well, I can absorb the heat of anything really, but nothing beats a planet's core." She explained.

"And you've done this before?"

"Yeah. She just freaked out because she caught me the one time I accidentally drained too much from one planet. And it's not like it exploded, it just created some really irregular volcanic activity." She justified.

"Well...I'd say Garnet had a pretty good reason to do it. She's very protective of the life on this planet, you know?".

"Apparently so...maybe this anger isn't all that justified." Obsidian admitted, "After all, at least I'm alive now.".

"Yeah, maybe you can talk to Garnet and let her know you're sorry. Who knows, she might apologize too." Tourmaline suggested.

Obsidian gazed at Tourmaline and then averted her eyes.

"I...I don't think I'm ready to do that." She said shyly.

Before Tourmaline could respond, he noticed the sun rising over the dark sea, making it shine brightly like it did at his home. He then remembered his friends. They were all probably aware that he's been missing too long by now, or Taz told them about what he did. He got up and then offered a hand to Obsidian. She looked up at she smiling gem.

"I'll be there with you all of the way. Just come with me." He offered.

She looked into his blue-green eyes, and then slowly moved her hand towards his. But before she could grab hold of him, she pulled away and looked away from him. Tourmaline's smile faded into a concerned look.

"I need to think about this. I'm sorry." She said.

Tourmaline stood up tall and started to walk away.

"It's fine. I will see you soon…" He started.

He made it to the edge of the jungle, and then turned back towards her. She was looking at him and he was looking back.

"...friend." He finished.

With that, he jumped into the jungle and ran back to the warp pad. Obsidian looked back at the sea and smiled.

"_Friend._" She repeated in her head.

Back at the house, all the gems were fretting and arguing about what to do with Tourmaline. Taz had told them everything when she finally came to. Tanza had a furious expression on her face while the others had mixed emotions on their faces.

"Alright, lets divide into teams. Ruby, Tanzanite and Amethyst will be team A, Pearl, Sapphire and Taz will be team B, and Tanza, Steven and I will be Group C." Garnet declared.

"Why am I going with you?" Tanza growled.

"Because I'm the only one who can stop you from killing Tourmaline when or if we find him." Garnet answered.

"I still can't believe he hit Taz. He never goes for kids like that." Ruby commented.

"Well he did. And I still hurt." Taz said.

"This deficiency has driven him crazy in a matter of a day. He needs help and he needs it now. So let's stop talking and get to him!" Pearl declared.

The other gems nodded and then the group rushed towards the warp pad. Before they could step onto it, the pad lit up and then revealed Tourmaline. The others stared up in astonishment at him. He was bloody, burned and covered in welts, but he had the biggest, dopey grin on his face.

"Hey guys! Guess what? I can summon my grieves again!" He declared.

"I...what?" Taz uttered.

A bright green light encompassed his grieves, and then his grieves appeared with their new pallet and new shin guards. The others stared in amazement at the act, and Tourmaline put them back. Garnet was the first to talk to him.

"So the fight with Obsidian went well?" She asked.

"Yeah! It was an amazing fight. And she might be done with the whole revenge deal too!" Tourmaline exclaimed.

Tourmaline staggered down from the warp pad and towards Tanza.

"I know you're pissed at me for hitting Taz, but I had to do this in secret without being disturbed. So if you want to hit me and get it over with, do it now. Cause I'm about to pass out." Tourmaline said.

Tanza balled her hands into fists, but immediately let them go to hug her lover. She squeezed him tightly and a small tear dripped from her eye.

"Don't you ever do something so reckless and stupid again!" She demanded.

Tourmaline just stood there limply, and then started snoring. Tanza let her hug go and then looked at his face, still holding him up. His head was hung slack, and he was fast asleep. She smiled and then picked him up. She walked him over and placed him on the couch. Taz used her psychic powers to take the blanket he used for her and placed it on him.

"So, are you not mad at him anymore?" Steven asked.

"Nah, after all he was right. And he's safe." Taz responded.

"Alright gems, let Tourmaline get some rest. He's had a rough night." Garnet demanded. The others nodded and walked into the temple, with Steven and Taz walking upstairs instead. Tourmaline let out a healthy yawn and snuggled up with his blanket. His grieves lightly glowed blue and green from underneath the covers, and Tourmaline drifted into a deep sleep.


	24. Chapter 24:Remnants

Chapter 24: Remnants

It was a beautiful day at Beach City. The sky was a perfect field of light-blue, the ocean was like a field of sapphires, and the people were out and about. Tourmaline and Tanza were on the roof of Steven's home, with Tourmaline's head on her lap, staring up at her face and the sky. She smiled down on him and he smiled back. On the patio, Steven and Taz were playing with Lion, or at least attempting to. Taz was waving a ball in front of Lion's face, but he just blankly stared at it. Meanwhile, Pearl and Amethyst were pulling the laserlight cannons from underneath the patio.

"You sure about this Pearl?" Amethyst asked.

"I've checked and double checked, a meteor is on it's way to beach city. If we shoot towards it now, we can destroy it before any of the citizens see it and panic." Pearl said.

Amethyst looked at her with a skeptic look.

"And this is something to worry about why?" The purple gem asked.

Pearl looked at her sternly.

"Because after that incident with Sardonyx the citizens are very on edge. If they see a meteor hurtling towards their town, I'm sure there will be chaos!" Pearl declared.

Amethyst shrugged and started angling the canons towards the sky. Pearl got the one on the right and middle, and then moved out from under the patio and leaped up to Steven. The two young gems looked up to her with smiles. Pearl smiled down on them and looked at Steven.

"Alright, the canons are in place. You ready to fire them off?" She asked the young boy.

Steven beamed and nodded excitedly. Pearl picked him up and jumped over the railing of the patio and down to the canons. Taz and Lion looked down on the three of them, and Ruby, and Sapphire looked up with skeptical looks. with Tanzanite looking up at the sky through a telescope.

"You sure about this Pearl? I think the meteor will be out of range for a while." Ruby questioned.

Pearl looked over to the red gem.

"Of course I'm sure! The power in the three of these will be able to shatter an asteroid near the moon!" She boasted.

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Yeah yeah, keep on bragging." Amethyst said sarcastically, "Yo Tanzanite! You see it?".

Tanzanite adjusted her telescope and looked up at the sky. Suddenly, she was staring at a giant, burning rock hurtling towards her. She jumped back and pointed up in the same direction as the telescope.

"It's right there!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah I don't think you needed a telescope to do that. I mean it sticks out like a sore thumb on such a beautiful day." Tourmaline teased.

The other gems looked up to see Tourmaline looking down at them, laying on his belly with a smug grin, his head hanging over the edge with Tanza on top of him with the a content smile. Pearl blushed as an embarrassed expression seeped onto her face. Amethyst shrugged and the others smiled up at him.

"Nobody likes a smart aleck Tourmaline." Ruby teased.

"Then why are all of you still around me?" He chuckled.

Pearl shook her head and looked down at Steven.

"Alright, save the jokes for later. Steven, fire up at that rock!" She ordered.

Steven looked towards the canons and placed his hand on one of them. He closed his eyes and focused.

"If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs." He whispered.

The tops of the three canons the bloomed like a bouquet of roses, with a pink light glowing in the center. After a few seconds of the intense light, the canons fired their beams at the meteor. The single forms of light transformed into three women, gathering around one giant blast as they sped through the air and towards their target. Tourmaline looked up at the majestic spectacle with a slight sense of awe. Suddenly, an image flashed in his mind. It was Steven and the others, pointing the canon at him. Then there was a flash of light. Tourmaline closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened the up, he saw a massive explosion in the sky, and a giant rock and some debris falling towards the ocean. They all fell with a massive splash, and the threat was gone. Amethyst smiled at Steven and Steven stood proud.

"Way to go Steven! Dead on strike!" Amethyst cheered.

Ruby and the others were walking back towards them, with Tanzanite holding the telescope.

"Great shot Steven. Guess we're done for the day?" Sapphire asked.

Pearl nodded.

"Sweet. Lets watch a movie." Ruby suggested.

Pearl and Amethyst pushed the canons back under the house, and Pearl went over to pick up Steven. The group jumped up onto the patio, and entered the house. Tanza moved off of Tourmaline and looked down at the uneasy gem with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you alright Tourmaline? I felt a shiver from you a second ago." She asked, worried.

Tourmaline sat up and looked up at her.

"Yeah. It's just...memories I guess." Tourmaline uttered.

Tanza kneeled down and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Was it of Emerald?"

He nodded. She pulled him in closer and hugged him.

"That part of you is gone Tourmaline. It will never come back." She reassured him.

He averted his eyes.

"But still, I felt every blow I dealt you guys. Every bit of pain. And to think that I could have ever done that-"

Tanza lightly grabbed his chin and slowly moved his head so their eyes could meet. He stared deep into her violet eyes and she stared into his blue-green ones.

"That wasn't you. That was never you. We both know you're not like that. You aren't some violent monster. You're our friend...you're my love." She said warmly.

Tourmaline's lost expression turned into a warm smile. He looked up to her and sat up slowly. The two of them kissed, and a feeling of happiness rushed through both of them. Their lips separated, and again they looked into each other's eyes.

"Come on now. Let's go inside and watch that movie with the others." The tall, purple gem ordered.

"Yes miss." He agreed.

Before he could get up, Tanza hoisted him up into his arms and slowly moved down the roof. Tourmaline stared up with a surprised look on his face.

"What are you doing?" He asked, confused.

"Carrying you down and inside the house, why do you ask?" She responded.

"I don't like this!" Tourmaline whined.

"Too bad." She smirked.

Taz stared at the two of them with a pouty face. Lion just stared at them with his usual blank gaze. Tourmaline looked at her with a slightly panicked look.

"Why are you glaring at me like that!?" He asked.

"Tanza carried me like that all the time." She complained.

Tanza stared down at her little friend.

"Now now Taz, don't be selfish." She requested.

Tourmaline's panicked expression slightly eased up.

"Wait, so you like being carried like this?" He asked Taz.

Taz nodded, and then Tourmaline extended his hand out towards her.

"Good! Tag in, now!" He demanded.

But before Taz could take him up on his offer, Tanza walked towards the door, grinning down at her captive mate. Taz rolled her eyes and followed them inside with Lion following close behind her. In the distant sea where the meteor fell, a mysterious, faint light began to glow. None of the gems noticed, but something big had just occurred. Something had been released from the depths of the sea.

/**/

Deep at the bottom of the ocean, where no natural light was present, and the only lights came from small luminescent fish, a giant thrashed and struggled to be free. She was massive, light green, and stood on six legs that ended in hands. Bound in chains of sea water, she thrashed to be free of her prison. The top pair of her eyes were closed and strained, while the bottom stared up at her, determined to keep her other half in check. The muddy floor had all but encased her hands and the chains further constrained her. The only sounds that came from them were the bubbles that masked her desperate screams.

"_I can't even remember how long this cursed brat has kept me here! As soon as I break free from you you damned little traitor, I'll cave your skull in and crush your little gem!" _She thought maliciously.

"_I can hear everything you say to me. And you're never going to leave this place. Ever!_" Her captor's voice screamed back in their head.

The giant gem grit her teeth and continued to thrash about in vain, but her other half kept her in place. With all the commotion, neither of them noticed the giant hunk broken rock coming down on them. It silently floated down towards the two gems, it's black texture completely masking it's appearance in the darkness of the depths. Within seconds, the giant stopped thrashing about in it's inner conflict, feeling something touch it's lower back. It looked back to see the giant stone. Before the dominant one could respond, it's back and legs shattered as the stone's weight crushed it's body. The beast screamed out as green blood seeped into the sea water, and the beast collapsed, with the previously existing chains of water fading away. It laid there, lifeless, and then it glowed a bright white. The beast disappeared, leaving behind two whole gems; a giant orange gem with red markings and long white hair, and small blue gem with a short haircut.

The orange gem looked at her hands, surprised to see her in her original form, and then she quickly turned towards the blue gem. Both were in an insane amount of pain from the forced separation, but the orange one worked through her suffering and charged through the water towards her with a look of malicious rage on her face. The blue one felt her throat being crushed as the orange gem violently grabbed hold of her small neck, and then she felt her back and her gem nearly break as she was tackled against the giant rock. She stared up at the giant gem with a frightened expression, and then her eyes widened further when she saw an orange light form around her head. In the next second, a helmet with a giant protrusion appeared, and in the next second before she could respond, she saw it hurtling through water and towards her face. There was a loud, muffled boom, and then blackness. The orange gem removed her head from her victims and looked down at it with a sadistic smile. The poor gem's head had been completely caved in. She slowly mouthed the word "Jasper", and then her body disappeared, with her gem drifting to the muddy bed. The giant gem stared down at it and laughed, her joyous sounds drowned out by the sea.

"_Guess forever didn't last as long as you thought it did Lapis._" Jasper taunted in her head.

She slowly bent down to pick up the stone, but then she looked up to see more rocks falling from above. She jumped back, and saw the great stones fall onto Lapis' gemstone. As the dust settled, where she once stood was a pile of boulders and debris. She scowled and turned away.

"_Good enough I guess. I'd prefer that I crushed her gem myself but at least I can take solace in the fact that she's dead now._" Jasper thought.

With her business finished, she looked up and then began to swim to surface. The great bed of water around her parted as she swam up, her surroundings getting brighter and brighter as she clawed and kicked her way to the surface.

"_Alright. I'd say a lot has gone wrong. Lost the ship, lost Rose, and I believe Peridot might be dead. But it's okay! All I have to do is just find some sort of way back to land, and then I can hopefully find a way to contact the homeworld. The hard part is over. It's time to resume the mission."_ She planned.

Within a few seconds, the darkness that surrounded her was replaced by an endless field of blue. Then, Jasper saw a field of bright light, like looking through a window and at the sky. Her grin widened and she broke through to the surface. She gasped loudly and panted for air. She felt the salty air go into her mouth and spread throughout her body, and she grinned again.

"_Never thought I'd miss air so much._"

She shook her wet hair, and then looked around her to see any sign of land. Nothing to her left, nothing to her right, and as she looked behind herself, she saw a very small speck of land. She let out a happy gasp and began swimming towards that small speck of hope. As she traveled closer and closer to dry land, the small speck became more and more detailed. Jasper began to see a group of buildings, and then a giant statue of a woman with multiple arms.

"_Hm, looks sort of like Rose's…_" She thought before she stopped swimming, a panicked look of dread replacing her eager grin, "_Oh shit!_".

Jasper stopped swimming and slammed her fist into the water, making a giant splash of water.

"_Lapis must have brought me in close enough that my only option would be to into Rose's territory. Clever little girl. Guess I'll have to wait it out til nightfall. At least then I can sneak into that town without others noticing me._" The orange gem thought, "_And that means…_".

She looked back at the water with a sense of dread. She had a nervous frown, but gulped down and sunk back beneath the waves and down towards the seafloor.

"_This will be the last day that I spend under the sea._"

/**/

**Three days later**

Deep within the confines of the gem temple, Garnet was within the bubbled chamber. She had just acquired a spherical gem, contained in a red bubble. The bubble floated away from her hand and up towards a crystal artery and towards another bubble. The floating thing bumped into the stationary, clear bubble and pushed it off of it's perch. The clear bubble housing a pair of shattered, yellow gems floated into the open. Garnet leaped up and grabbed the bubble from out of the air, holding it in the palm of her hand. She stared at the twinkling shards and heaved a sigh. She turned around to place the gem back in it's hiding place, but then saw Pearl standing across from the pool of lava in the middle of the room.

"Pearl! What are you doing here?" Garnet asked.

Pearl began to walk over to her leader.

"I was wondering how you were after the mission." She answered as her focus shifted from Garnet to the bubble, "What are you doing with Topaz's gems?".

Garnet looked at the bubble.

"It slipped out of it's hiding place. I was just putting it back." The tall gem answered.

"Are you sure we shouldn't just get rid of it? I mean, Tourmaline thinks that he is dead, and clearly he is...but to keep his remains like this...it feels wrong." Pearl said in a worried tone.

Garnet walked over to the artery and Pearl followed her.

"He was merciful to Tourmaline. I saw the ending of their fight. He had him pinned on the ground and Tourmaline at his mercy...but he dropped his weapon, and killed himself instead. The least I can do is keep him in a proper site like this and not just throw him in the incinerator like a piece of trash." Garnet explained.

Pearl looked longingly at the bubble and back to her leader.

"Yes...I suppose you're right."

Suddenly, they heard a desperate roar coming from outside. The two gems looked over to see Lion running into the chamber with Steven, Ruby and Tanza chasing after him.

"Lion get back here!" Steven shouted.

"I know it's not your favorite thing in the world Lion, but you need a bath!" Ruby shouted.

"It's gonna happen, so stop running and come nice and easy!" Tanza added.

Lion growled in protest and ran into Pearl and Garnet, tripping him up and knocking the other two down. The bubble fell from Garnet's hands and popped midair, causing the two gems to fall onto the ground with a small clinking noise. Ruby and Tanza rushed to grab Lion while Steven stopped to look at the gem. He had a worried expression looking down at the shattered thing.

"Aww, look what you did! You made Garnet break these gems!" Steven scolded Lion as he picked up the broken things, "Don't worry, I'll fix them.".

"Steven no!" Garnet and Pearl shouted in unison.

The two lunged forward to grab the gems out of Steven's hands, but it was too late. Steven had licked both of them at once, and the gems began to heal. Garnet swiped them out of Steven's hands and immediately bubbled them. The glow around the gems disappeared, showing two pristine, stretched hexagons. She leaped up to the artery to place the crystals away, causing Ruby to look towards her, ignoring Tanza and Lion wrestling. She saw a glimpse of the gems and her stomach twisted into sickening knots, and her eyes grew wide. As Garnet landed, Ruby stomped over to her with an intense glare.

"What is that!?" She shouted.

"Those were just gems from some random monster. Nothing special." Garnet said deadpan.

Ruby was now right up to Garnet.

"Those were not any normal gems! I recognize them! Those are Topaz's!"

Steven looked up to the two red gems with a confused look.

"But I just saw Topaz upstairs playing with Tourmaline." Steven said.

Ruby looked down at Steven with an angry glare. The young boy flinched, causing Ruby to calm herself. She heaved a sigh and her glare faded away.

"No, it's the Topaz that Tourmaline had ran away from months ago. He's a vicious monster." Ruby explained.

Steven then remember the tall pale gem with silver hair and red eyes. Steven shook his head and grabbed his hair.

"And I just healed him!?" He exclaimed.

Pearl walked over to Steven and crouched down in front of him.

"It's okay Steven, you didn't know. So long as he's in that bubble, we'll be fine." Pearl assured him.

"And that Tourmaline never finds out that he's here." Garnet interjected.

Ruby nodded in agreement.

"I can't imagine how Tourmaline would react to finding him here. He'd probably go berserk!" She suggested.

Steven let go of his head and got a stern look on his face.

"Alright! This is a secret between all of us!" Steven declared.

Suddenly, Steven was swept away by a pink flash. The others looked to see Lion, carrying the young, yelling boy out of the chamber. Ruby looked to her side to see Tanza, a complete mess with a massive paw print on her face.

"Thanks for the backup partner." She said sarcastically.

Ruby chuckled and slapped her friend on the back.

"Sorry about that, weird thing came up." Ruby said jokingly.

/**/

Later that night, when all of Beach City was asleep, Jasper emerged from the depths of the sea. She looked around and saw no signs of life. She grinned to herself and swam onto shore. She felt the sand on her hands and feet, and she silently laughed to herself. She stood up and quickly ran through the streets and quickly made it out of Beach City. As she approached the massive sign for the city, she slowed down and looked back at the silent town. She then looked over to the great plateau where Rose's base resided and scowled.

"_Just you wait Quartz. You may have gotten lucky back on my ship, but soon I'll be back with enough power to tear apart your dear planet!" _She shouted in her head.

She then turned around and ran away. She ran for miles, eventually making it to a giant corn field. She looked over to the massive field and decided to run through there instead of leaving herself in an open plane. She trampled the stalks of corn as she traversed the deep field, and then found a massive crater. Her eyes went wide as she was surprised to see an escape pod from the ship, or what was left of one. She quickly ran up to it and saw the halves of the ship were somewhat pristine inside, despite the exterior damage.

"_How can this be? After whatever battle this thing was in, how could the inside still be-_"

"Jasper?" A timid voice called.

Jasper immediately turned around with a fierce scowl on her face.

"Who's there!? Show yourself now!" She commanded.

From the field, a small green gem with a triangular hairstyle walked out. To Jasper's surprise, she found Peridot.

"Peridot? What are you doing here? I figured you would be far away from your pod by now." Jasper said.

Peridot averted her eyes.

"I was going to run, but I figured it would be easier to just fix my pod and contact the homeworld. It was going well until that Steven came back with other humans and messed with it completely. Then the crystal gems came and completely tore it up, setting back all of my work. I figured it would be best to stay here, considering they thought I was long gone due to the Steven's interference." Peridot explained.

Peridot walked up to her leader, only to be pushed towards the pod.

"Well don't let my appearance slow your work ethic. The crystal gems have no idea that I'm here and that means that this place is safe. Now get to work so we can get off this forsaken rock!" She barked.

Peridot flinched at the shout, but frowned an unhappy frown and got back to her pod. Before she began to work, she looked back at Jasper.

"By the way, how did you survive?" She asked.

"Same way you did; dumb luck and a miracle. Now get to work!"

/**/

The following morning, the crystal gems were outside. Steven had suggested a game of simon says, and the others were happy to oblige. The gems had shapeshifted into a trio of dogs, and Steven was enjoying being the master.

"Okay, Simon says...change into a bird!" Steven declared.

With a flash of light, Garnet had changed into a hawk, Amethyst transformed into a bluejay, and Pearl changed into a hummingbird. Steven giggled a little, and then he began to think of the next thing to say.

"Okay, change back to normal!" He demanded.

Pearl heaved a sigh of relief, and then she and Garnet changed back to their normal forms. Amethyst started snickering and Steven beamed. Pearl looked at the purple bluejay with confusion.

"Amethyst, you can change back now. The game's over." Pearl said.

Amethyst snickered and changed back.

"Yeah, it's over cause I won!" She bellowed.

"Yep! Amethyst didn't change when I told you guys too. Cause I didn't say Simon says!" Steven laughed.

Pearl looked at Amethyst with a disappointed gaze, but quickly shook it off and patted her friend on the back.

"Good for you Amethyst." Pearl congratulated.

Steven ran up to Amethyst, and the two exchanged a high five. Then from the house, a bright light burst from all the windows. The others looked up to see what the commotion was. The gems and Steven raced back to the house, and Ruby quickly opened the door right in front of the group.

"Guys! Quickly! Tourmaline is going to the chamber!" Ruby shouted in a panicked tone.

The gem's eyes widened.

"What!? Why!?" Pearl asked.

"He got a gem from his mission and decided to hand deliver it this time. When I asked him why, he said he wanted to see the chamber for himself for a change. I tried to stop him but he just ran off into it!" Ruby shouted.

Garnet tightened her fists and rushed into the house, knocking Ruby aside. The others stared at the scene with mild confusion as Garnet quickly entered the temple.

"What's up with all the drama? So what if Tourmaline decided to go into the chamber. Not like he's gonna cause any trouble." Sapphire said lazily.

Ruby looked over to her friend.

"There's something there that might set him off...a remnant of a certain someone we all remember." Ruby said morbidly.

Sapphire and Tanzanite's eyes went wide while Tanza and Taz looked on with confusion.

"No...he's still here!?" Sapphire shouted.

"But I thought his gems were completely shattered!" Tanzanite added.

Tanza looked over to Sapphire.

"I'm sorry, but whose gems were shattered?" The tall purple gem asked.

Sapphire turned to Tanza.

"Topaz. The Topaz Tourmaline told you about. Also the reason we call her Taz." She said as she pointed to Taz.

"Alright, alright! Let's calm down. Garnet put the bubble away in a secure place. Tourmaline might not even notice it!" Pearl hoped.

/**/

Tourmaline hummed to himself as he walked into the chamber. He looked up to see bubbles grouped up in pairs, each containing a gem. He smirked to himself.

"_Guess they're drawn to each other even in this state. How quaint._" He thought to himself.

He let his bubble float up and it nestled between a pair of other bubbles. He looked around the room, intrigued by the bubbles. So many battles, so many foes, the crystal gems had a very interesting history. As he scanned the room, he noticed a lone bubble huddled away behind a large, red, crystalline tube. Intrigued, he walked over to the bubble.

"_Why are you alone?_" He wondered.

He hopped up to the bubble, and then his eyes went wide with dread. His blood turned cold as the contents of the bubble became more apparent. Two yellow gems in the exact shape as Toapz's. He denied the idea as he landed next to the bubble. He grabbed it with both hands and then slid off of the red thing. He landed with a click and looked longingly at the gems. Thoughts raced through his head, but he had no other choice. He raised a hand up and clenched it into a fist. Suddenly, Garnet rushed into the room.

"Tourmaline, don't!" She commanded.

Transfixed by the bubble, he ignored his leader's order and slammed his fist into the bubble, shattering and having the two stones fall to the ground. They glowed as bright as the sun and floated into the air. Garnet stretched her hand out to grab the two gems. Tourmaline noticed this and summoned his grieves. He leaped up towards the hand and kicked it away. Garnet grunted in pain as she brought her hand back. The back of her hand had a large cut across it. She glared over at Tourmaline, who glared at her with a ferocity she hadn't seen in a long time.

"Stay out of this Garnet!" He barked.

The two gemstones lined up together, and released a human form. Tourmaline turned around to see the light clear away from the form. His eyes were closed, but his snow white hair flowed in the air, his black shirt was now yellow and black, yellow from the torso up, and cut off in a jagged pattern at the abdominal, it was completely black. His pants were the same, and his face was indistinguishable. He fell to the ground, and his long hair draped over his face. He slowly got up, his hair still covering it. With a gently wipe from his right hand, he parted his hair to the side, revealing a blood red eye. Tourmaline stared on in horror. Topaz was alive, and he stood before him. A wide grin formed on Topaz's face as he looked on at Tourmaline.

"Hello old friend. I thought I'd never have the pleasure of seeing you again." He said warmly.

Tourmaline scowled, his suspicions confirmed, his rage was rekindled. He quickly turned over to Garnet.

"You told me that he was dead!" He shouted.

Garnet stood still, motionless and steadfast.

"He was dead, until Steven healed him." The stone faced gem explained.

Topaz chuckled to himself.

"Steven...that young boy you were with that fateful day? Guess he has some very powerful magic. I'll have to thank him myself for giving me new life." The pale gem declared.

Tourmaline quickly turned to Topaz.

"You're not going anywhere! I'm a lot stronger than I was before!" Tourmaline roared.

Topaz quickly brought his hands up.

"Hey hey hey now! I was just blessed with a second chance! I'm not going to throw it away on a fight I'm sure to lose. I had my hands full with you in your...weaker state I'll call it. And now you have backup." Topaz assured him.

Tourmaline eased up as he looked over to Garnet. He thought to himself for a second, and then looked back to Topaz. He sent his weapons away and gained a calm stance.

"Garnet, leave us." He requested.

Garnet looked at Tourmaline with a curious gaze.

"You sure?" She asked.

"He's hardly the threat he once was. Now leave us alone!" He shouted.

Garnet looked at Tourmaline with a small scowl. She eased up and turned around, walking out of the chamber. Before she exited, she turned back to Tourmaline.

"Once you're done here, you and I are going to have a little talk about this outburst." She said menacingly.

As she exited, she looked over to her right to see the gems and Steven peaking into the chamber. They all looked at her and she looked back.

"You don't have to say anything." She whispered as she went into the group.

Taz and Tanza were the closest to the wall as the others stared with them.

"So that's Topaz?" Tanza asked.

"Yes." Sapphire answered.

"He looks like a creep." Taz said coldly.

"He is." Ruby assured her.

Topaz and Tourmaline stared each other down. The pale gem gazed into the blue green eyes of his former student and scowled.

"What happened to your eyes?" He asked as he pointed at them.

"Can't exactly explain it myself. Most I know is that my mom and dad are getting a lot closer." Tourmaline said.

Topaz glared at him.

"So...you know about Jade and Aquamarine." Topaz spat.

Tourmaline's eyes went wide with shock.

"You knew about them…" Tourmaline said softly.

"Yes, I knew about the experiments. I'm thousands of years old Tourmaline. I've seen everything. The war between Rose and the homeworld, and things even before that. I never told you because it wasn't important. All I knew is that Feldspar had been breeding gems for the purpose of war, and that one of her prime experiments had escaped from the homeworld. I was lucky to grab you before Rose did. Call it fate that our paths crossed. But now that we're back together, we can-" Topaz rambled on.

Before he could finish his sentence, Tourmaline rushed forward and punched Topaz as hard as he could in the face. Topaz twirled through the air and landed on his side. He got up and looked at the enraged boy.

"You knew all along!?" He repeated.

Topaz summoned his sai and assumed his stance.

"It's nothing but emotional baggage and you know it!" Topaz barked back.

Tourmaline rushed forward, surprising Topaz with his intense speed. Tourmaline then kicked him in the jaw, the force rocking Topaz to his core. He dropped his sai, and then Tourmaline grabbed his shirt. Tourmaline took a knee and yanked Topaz into said knee. Topaz felt his skull crack as his nose broke. Tourmaline then let him go and did a flip kick, knocking Topaz into the air and rattling his skull. Tourmaline landed on his feet and Topaz landed on his back.

"Get up! I'm not done with you!" Tourmaline demanded.

Topaz painfully sat up, his face spattered with yellow blood from his nose and mouth. He laughed a bit and then coughed up another glob of blood.

"You sure you haven't gotten that out of your system?" He asked.

Tourmaline glared at his foe, but eased up and relaxed his stance. He walked over to Topaz and extended his hand. Topaz accepted his help and gripped it tightly. Tourmaline hoisted him up and Topaz stumbled to his feet.

"Thanks for not using your weapon. Doubt I'd be able to talk so well with a couple holes in my mouth." He joked.

Tourmaline pushed him away and he stumbled back. Topaz glared at him.

"So...I take it that Garnet is your leader now?"

Tourmaline scowled.

"She's a far greater leader than you ever were." He hissed.

"You wound me so. After all, who taught you to fight? Who taught you about your origin? Who made you into who you are now?" Topaz asked.

"My friends made me into who I am now! They merely undid the damage that you caused me." Tourmaline growled.

Topaz spat a load of yellow liquid and turned back to Tourmaline.

"Oh yes...your friends. I take it they don't know about your past?" He said coldly.

"On the contrary, they know everything." Tourmaline said confidently.

Topaz's bitter stare turned into a surprised gaze.

"And they still accept you? Heh heh, they're definitely keepers. For as long as they last anyway." Topaz taunted.

Tourmaline grit his teeth.

"Shut your mouth! You know nothing about the friends I gained! You know nothing about protecting something that valuable to yourself! You know nothing about the path I have taken to protect them from anything!"

Topaz's eyes went wide and he summoned a sai from his gem. He threw the sai at Tourmaline, but Tourmaline grabbed it out of the air. Tourmaline looked at his mentor and saw a black, twisted expression replacing his usual cocky smile.

"Boy...Do not...talk to me...about protecting others!" He growled angrily.

Topaz began to stumble towards Tourmaline, holding that angry expression on his face.

"It's all the same...you find a group of people who you take a liking to...you develop a bond with them...you work with them through everything to achieve your dreams...**AND FOR WHAT!?** You get into to one unfortunate battle and lose everything that you worked for with a blast of a cannon!" Topaz screamed.

Tourmaline gazed at Topaz with a sense of pity. Topaz slumped down to his knee, coughing up blood. Tourmaline walked up to him and he gazed up with an angry stare.

"Is that what happened to you?" Tourmaline asked.

Topaz silently stared up.

"You threw away your humanity, bathed in the blood of thousands, and dragged me into your world...because you lost your friends?" Tourmaline continued.

Topaz looked away.

"I don't need your pity!" Topaz barked.

Tourmaline sat in front of him.

"But I need your story." Tourmaline asked.

Topaz scowled.

"All you need to know is that I had allies, and they died during the gem war. We were allied with the homeworld...but we lost. I was the only one to survive. Staring death in the face, I fled from the battle. Every since then...I've participated in war after war. Each time I throw myself into danger...I feel like they're right at my side...watching over me. I did not wish for you to have such a burden come over you, so I was glad that you were a loner. But now...it seems that all of that is done for." Topaz explained.

"I never would have guessed." Tourmaline said in a worried tone.

"Well now you know. And now you're some big softie fighting for his friends. Whatever." Topaz said sarcastically.

Tourmaline laughed to himself, and then his laughter grew more audible. Topaz and the others looked at Tourmaline with curiosity.

"Oh Topaz...don't think that I've changed that much." Tourmaline assured him.

Topaz raised an eyebrow.

"I may fight for my friends and I'm a lot more gentle around them...but my attitude in battle is still the same." Tourmaline said maliciously.

The others stared at Tourmaline with shock and intrigue.

"I love fighting...I love tearing a foe to shreds...I love the pain I receive from a much stronger foe...I love combat just as much as the day you brought me in. No...more. than before. Because having something to protect ensures that I fight at my fullest potential." Tourmaline explained, "Don't you see? Now that I have allies that I can call my friends...I have found my true strength!".

Topaz stared at Tourmaline, and he couldn't help but smile. Tourmaline rose to his feet and Topaz followed in his example. Topaz began to laugh and then he looked over to his comrade.

"It feels like only yesterday you were that brat in the streets. Now you're this...something I can say I'm proud of." Topaz admitted.

The others stared on from the corner. Ruby held her chest tightly.

"_Tourmaline…_" She thought.

Topaz stood tall and smiled at Tourmaline.

"I know I've done some terrible things...did some pretty messed up stuff to you and your new friends...but I want to make amends. I want to follow you now Tourmaline...lead me to this strength you claim you have." Topaz requested.

Tourmaline chuckled out loud.

"Oh Topaz, didn't you remember what I said earlier?" Tourmaline asked.

Before Topaz could react. He felt an intense pain in his chest. He looked down to see Tourmaline's hand stuck in his chest. He looked back at Tourmaline and saw his sadistic face.

"You're not going anywhere." Tourmaline said coldly.

Tourmaline tore his hand from Topaz's chest and the pale gem stumbled back. He hacked up a massive load of blood and smiled.

"I'll let you think on it." He coughed.

Topaz's body poofed away, leaving his gems behind. Tourmaline picked up the gemstones and bubbled them. He let the bubble float up and he walked back to the exit of the temple. The other gems, chilled by this violent act, quickly ran to the entrance of the temple. Tourmaline walked into the hallway outside, and then looked back at the chamber. He heaved a sigh and walked back towards his home.

/**/

Peridot continued to fiddle with the ship's control panel, twisting wire and power nodes to make a communicator. Suddenly, her ship lit up and sprang to life. She stumbled back in surprise, and looked back to Jasper, who was just sitting and staring at her.

"Jasper, it's fixed!" Peridot exclaimed.

Jasper quickly got up and walked over to her.

"Excellent! Now contact the homeworld!" Jasper ordered.

Peridot tapped away at the control panel, and a hologram projected out into the open air. An image of a tall gem with long hair appeared, her natural colors were replaced with light green.

"This is Axinite. Report." She commanded.

"Jasper and Peridot reporting." Jasper responded.

The projected gem raised an eyebrow.

"Oh...Jasper. I take it the mission to activate the kindergarten has gone off track?" Axinite said smugly.

"Don't give me that! We've encountered Rose Quartz and what's left of her army. They took the ship by surprise and now we're stranded here." Jasper explained.

Axinite raised an eyebrow.

"My...Rose Quartz? This is interesting. And you're sure of this?" Axinte asked.

"I saw her shield myself. She's assuming some odd form, but it's definitely her!" Jasper assured her.

Axinite looked away and then back at the two gems.

"I'll report this to Yellow Diamond. Expect reinforcements soon. For now, stay where you are. We'll have a ship come pick you up so you can join us for taking over Rose's base. Axinite out." Axinte said sternly.

The hologram disappeared and Jasper looked at Peridot with a massive grin.

"It's over now Peridot...we've won. No doubt we'll have more than enough power to wipe out Rose's pathetic group. Now we simply wait." Jasper assured her ally.

/**/

Tourmaline walked into the house and saw his friends waiting for him. He had wiped Topaz's blood off on the his pants, leaving a dark wet stain. Though it wasn't apparent, it could still be noticeable. Tourmaline walked towards the door, and Ruby walked in front of him.

"Tourmaline...you alright?" She asked.

He looked at her and flashed her a warm smile.

"Just fine...I just need to go for a walk, clear my head and think for a bit." Tourmaline said.

"Okay." She nodded.

Tourmaline walked to the door, opened it and stopped in the doorway. The others looked at him with curiosity.

"I knew you were all watching." He uttered.

The others felt a cold chill rush up their backs, and then he was gone. The crystal gems turned to Garnet.

"You think he's okay? I mean...he doesn't seem right." Pearl asked.

"He just needs some time for himself. And besides, that punch doesn't really shake me up. After all I was gonna do it myself." Garnet assured her friends.

From outside, Tourmaline was listening in on the gems talking. He heaved a sigh of relief and jumped onto the beach. He walked along the calm waves and reflected on his encounter. Did Topaz really mean what he said? Or was it more trickery from him. For now, Tourmaline decided that he will remain in stasis until he has a change of heart. Tourmaline took a deep breath and just enjoyed the sound of the waves and the feel of sand underneath his feet.


	25. Chapter 25: Invasion

Polished Gems #25: Invasion

Deep in the confines of space, light years and galaxies away from earth, an orange gem was walking through a lime green corridor. Axinite had submitted her report a mere day ago, and she was already called for an audience with her leader. As she walked through the hall, she came upon a large yellow door with three triangles forming a pyramid with an empty hole in the middle, guarded by two large gem golems. Their static faces stared down on her with cold eyes, yet allowed her to enter as they opened the door. She walked into the chamber and looked upon a large throne, obscured by shadow. Her queen's figure was mostly in darkness, save for her legs, crossed and covered by black pants with a yellow stripe running down them. Axinite kneeled before her and bowed her head. Axinite looked up to see her leader lazily raising her hand, signaling her to rise. Axinite stood up and stared upon the tall gem's figure.

"Thank you for this honor, Yellow Diamond." Axinite said.

"Spare the formalities. Are you certain that Rose Quartz is still active on Earth?" Yellow Diamond said in a monotone.

Axinite placed her hands behind her back.

"Indeed, Jasper has confirmed it. She says she saw her shield stop one of our warship's blasts. No gem tech on Earth could possibly create a forcefield powerful enough to withstand it, so it has to be her." Axinite explained.

Yellow Diamond let in a deep breath and exhaled. Axinite stood silently, awaiting her leader's response.

"So...she still lives and continues to protect that mudball. For what? Humans? Pah." Yellow Diamond scoffed, "What pathetic, simple creatures.".

Axinite looked away and back to her leader.

"I...understand your feelings about them. But they are a somewhat intelligent species that may as well end up catching up with us in a few thousand-"

Yellow Diamond slammed her fist onto one of her chair's arms, causing the orange gem to flinch in fear.

"Humans are not worth the air they breath nor the dirt they walk on! They are nothing to us! They are just...vermin. Refuse that needs to be disposed of in order to make way for a greater good." Yellow Diamond spoke viscously.

Axinite quivered in fear, awaiting her master's wrath to be unleashed upon her. From the shadows, Yellow Diamond glared at her.

"I thought you were smart enough to understand this." Yellow Diamond insisted.

"I...I do your lordship. It's just that they seem to do so much with so little. It would be admirable, if it were anything of real substance to a gem." Axinite responded in a worried tone.

Yellow Diamond hissed as she arched out of her chair. Axinite stayed frozen in place. Running would only make things worse. But to her pleasant surprise, her leader sunk back into her chair with a low growl.

"I suppose you have a point. Rose did care for the little things in the universe, and seeing how humans are the most intuitive of all little things, I can even see why she got attached." Yellow Diamond said calmly, "But she doesn't see the big picture. The future of her own race. We did what we could with other planets, but only Earth could cultivate so many different forms of crystals. So many possibilities we could make realities with the materials from Earth. With our powers together, we could easily take over any planet...but then she saw something in that...disgusting ball that caused her to change her mind. Don't you see…?".

Yellow Diamond rose from her seat quickly and stood tall over Axinite, causing her to flinch again.

"Rose betrayed us!" She screamed.

Axinite stared up at the monstrous gem and cowered in fear. Yellow Diamond sat back down and sighed, pinching the brow of her nose, and then looking back at Axinite.

"Contact Jasper. I'd like to know what else she saw." Yellow Diamond ordered.

Axinite fumbled out a portable monitor and started swiping away at strange symbols.

"M-My lord." Axinite responded.

With a few quick taps and swipes, a large hologram was projected from her monitor. A field of static was all to be seen before a clear picture of a green gem was displayed. The green gem fumbled at the sight and quickly ran up to the screen to address the image. Her expression was panicky and fearful.

"P-P-Peridot reporting mistress Diamond!" Peridot stuttered.

"Yes, Peridot. Good evening. I see the mission to check on the cluster is going smoothly." Yellow Diamond spoke with a cold grin.

Peridot pressed her fingers together and frowned.

"Well...actually we ran into-".

Yellow Diamond raised her hand and Peridot stopped.

"Spare me your sniveling. I try to humor you and you repay me with facts I already know.".

"I-I'm so-"

"Enough. I'm bored with you. Show me Jasper." Yellow Diamond commanded.

Peridot had a hurt look on her face, but begrudgingly turned to Jasper, who was standing right outside of the hologram's vision. Jasper nodded and walked into the hologram's line of sight, revealing a neutral face. However this seemingly calm exterior masked a maelstrom of fear and worry.

"Jasper reporting. What is it that you desire, mistress Diamond?" Jasper asked.

"I would like to know what enemies you have encountered, barring Rose Quartz of course." Yellow Diamond requested.

"Three gems. A defective Pearl, a runt of the litter, and a fusion." Jasper answered.

Yellow Diamond frowned.

"That's all there is? That's all it took to defeat you?" She asked in an irritated tone.

"We-well I would have crushed them all if the fusion with Lapis Lazuli went well!" Jasper said in protest.

Yellow Diamond was silent.

"...You trusted a prisoner to fuse with you?" Yellow Diamond asked in a black tone.

Jasper looked away and back to the hologram.

"Ye...Yes. The fusion I fought against was stronger than I presumed she was, so it seemed like the only way to win since she destroyed my gem destabilizer." Jasper said meekly.

Yellow Diamond sighed.

"And here I thought you were trustworthy." She spat.

Jasper's eyes widened.

"I-I am! They just caught me by surprise! If I had known Rose could repel the gem destabilizer, I would have crushed her-".

Yellow Diamond scowled and erupted with rage.

"I am the one who is to kill Rose Quartz Jasper! That honor is mine and mine alone! And no well done pup from the kindergarten is going to strip me of that right!" The great gem roared.

Jasper was stunned into silence. Yellow Diamond stood up and looked down at Axinite.

"Axinite, prepare a group of gems to fly to Earth." She ordered, and then looked back to Jasper, "You will answer to them. If you do well, you will come back with the warm welcome you expect and hope for. If they have to hold your hand all the way through, consider yourself stripped of your privilege as a commander.".

Jasper's fearful expression grew worse.

"But-but mistress! I've worked for thousands of years to earn this right! It can't just be stripped away like this, can it!?" Jasper protested.

Yellow Diamond laughed to herself.

"Yes it can. Because short and simple, I don't believe in failures. End transmission." Yellow Diamond stated coldly.

The last image she saw was Jasper's devastated face. She then turned to Axinite.

"You're in charge of leading the mission. Your first job is to pick up Peridot and Jasper. Then go and capture the gems and Rose. After that, activate the kindergarten." Yellow Diamond decreed.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just kill them then and there?" Axinite asked.

"Yes...I suppose it would. But there's a chance we might have another rebellious group like Rose's. I want to make an example of her. I want to show all of our race what happens when you stray from the path I paved for them all. And besides...I want you to make they watch as their precious planet is stripped from it's core and turned into a shriveled up husk." Yellow Diamond morbidly stated.

Axinite felt a chill run up her spine from her leader's ruthless ideal.

"I...I believe I know who shall accompany me. We'll have a group of six including myself. More than enough to take down Rose's little troupe." Axinite assured.

"Then take a few squadrons of Pearls with you." Yellow Diamond insisted.

Axinite looked up, surprised by her leader's generosity.

"Are you sure? Jasper nearly handled them all on her own and now she'll have a team backing her up." Axinite implored.

"Being content with one blade and a few arrows when you have an entire armory of options is a foolish thing to do. Jasper encountered one group. For all we know there could be dozens if not hundreds more gems aligned to her living there. Have a backup plan and expendable troops." Yellow Diamond explained.

Axinite stood, bewildered by her malicious leader's wise words. She bowed her head in respect.

"Thank you mistress!" She said warmly, "I will begin preparations immediately.".

With that, Axinite left the large throne room, leaving Yellow Diamond to herself. The leader looked towards the roof and at the vast void of space.

"_Rose. This time, I will have your head, and your gem._" She thought to herself

/**/

Axinite walked down the green corridor and towards the hanger. She pulled out her tablet and with a few swipes, a circle with a line appeared. A voice spoke, and the line began to vibrate.

"This is Benitoite, state your business Axinite." A calm voice asked.

"Yes hello to you too. I need you to accompany me to Earth." The tall orange gem requested.

"Earth? I thought Jasper had that taken care of.".

"She ran into Rose and her troops. So we have to clean up after her." Axinite said coldly.

A sigh was heard from her monitor.

"Where are we meeting up?" Benitoite asked.

"The hanger. And bring a few squads of Pearls. Yellow Diamond wants to make sure that we aren't entirely unprepared." Axinite stated.

"Hm, seems a little too much, but if that's what the mistress requests, who am I to judge. Anyone else coming along?".

"I've already contacted Sphene, Iolite, Feldspar and her assistant."

"Come again?" Benitoite asked in a confused tone, "Feldspar? That washed up scientist?".

"She isn't washed up. What she has works, and her skills on the battlefield are surprisingly well toned." Axinite justified.

"I'm surprised that Yellow Diamond would allow her to do anything after her breeding program went bust." Benitoite blurted out.

"It didn't. Remember Pyrite?" The orange gem asked.

Benitoite let out an audible shiver.

"Don't remind me about that freak. Wait...you're not thinking about bringing her back, are you!?".

"We have the tools to control her now. And with her power on our side, there's no one who could stop us. Not even Rose. Besides, we can say that Jasper thought of the idea and tamed her. Let her get off the hook with Yellow Diamond." Axinite explained.

"Funny hearing you act merciful." Benitoite joked.

"Everyone deserves a second shot. Even that meathead Jasper." Axinite laughed.

Benitoite laughed.

"Alright. I'll be sure to bring a good amount of troops. I'll be at the hangar within the hour. Don't keep me waiting." Benitoite stated.

"Very well. Axinite out." Axinite said as she closed her monitor.

Axinite minimized the monitor and it disappeared up her sleeve. As she continued on, she saw Feldspar leaning against the wall. Her light brown hair covered part of her face, and her uniform was a light black shirt that faded into chalky white at the bottom. Her sleeves had a long pink line going down them, and her skin was an ashy grey. She noticed Axinite and moved off of the wall, revealing another gem behind her. Her skin was a light black and her suit was completely black. Her torso and midriff were exposed, save for the rib like patterns that covered her breasts and some of her stomach. She had a small black afro, and her eyes were a bright yellow. Her green lips were frowning, as she moved off the wall, Axinite could see her exposed shoulders, covered with glitter-like freckles. Feldspar held her hand up, signaling the gem to stay on standby, as she walked up to her old friend.

"Axinite. So lovely to see you again." Feldspar said in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes hello Feldspar. And...uh."

The other gem walked forward and next to Feldspar.

"I am Black Pearl." She answered.

Axinite raised an eyebrow and shifted her attention back to Feldspar.

"Seems you were scraping the bottom of the barrel for this one." Axinite said coldly.

Black Pearl scowled and four of the pieces of her attire extended into long, sharp, spider-like legs.

"Care to repeat that?" She growled.

Feldspar looked back at her assistant.

"Spare the pointless squabble BP." Feldspar ordered.

Black Pearl shot a glance at Feldspar, who responded with a warm grin.

"I know, I know, but you can at least prove her wrong by acting dignified. Besides you'll have plenty of opportunities to fight once we make it to Earth." Feldspar explained, then turning back to Axinite, "Please be respectful of my assistant.".

Black Pearl growled, but put her legs away. Axinite looked back to Feldspar.

"Quite an interesting weapon she has there. I may have spoke too soon."

"That's not her weapon. Her weapon isn't really suited for fast paced combat, so she developed those legs as a way for fast cqc." Feldspar, "Quite surprised that the others gave up on her just because of a minor deformity with her gem.".

"Please don't mention it." Black Pearl requested.

"I would ask to see it, but if it makes you feel comfortable, then I'll leave it be. Walk with me Feldspar, I was on my way to meet up with the others." Axinite requested as she walked past them.

As she looked back at them, she noticed on Black Pearl's gem on her lower back. It looked rigid, like a ripple of water that froze in place. That must have been the deformity Feldspar mentioned. Feldspar and Black Pearl walked alongside her, with Feldspar's gem facing her, protruding from the grey gem's hip.

"So, we're finally going back to Earth. It's been so long...I wonder how well it's species has changed since then." Feldspar questioned.

"I'm sure they've made some jumps here and there. But focus on the mission. We have to get Rose and her troops and then activate the kindergarten." Axinite repeated.

"Yes yes, I'm aware. And then the labs...we can bring her back?" Feldspar asked.

"Are you talking about Pyrite?" Black Pearl interjected.

Axinite nodded.

"The gem destabilizers should be enough to subdue her if she has another one of her...episodes." The orange gem assured.

"Hmph. She listens to me just fine." Feldspar pouted.

"Yes but it's when you're not around that things go wrong." Axinite stated.

Feldspar glared at Axinite.

"I promised Yellow Diamond a warrior, not a slave." Feldspar growled.

Black Pearl grit her teeth at Axinite's attitude.

"Fine fine. But still, she's going to be pissed when we wake her up."

"You left her abandoned on Earth for thousands of years. Of course she's going to be." Black Pearl stated coldly.

Axinite looked towards Black Pearl.

"Regardless, she isn't our priority. The mission first, Pyrite second." Axinite stated.

"Agreed." Feldspar said sternly.

The trio made it to a large green gate. Yellow lines formed from the corners, connecting together to carve four symmetrical triangles. The triangles pulled themselves away from the center, and the gate disappeared. The three walked in to see two large hands, connected to the walls by by the wrist by tendon like wires. Axinite spotted two gems talking near one of the hands.

"Time to meet the help." Axinite said.

The three walked towards the two gems. One had pointed towards the group, and the other one turned to see them. She waved over to them and walked over to Axinite and her company. Once they were face to face, Axinite could make out their forms. The first one was a giant, easily towering over the tall Axinite. She wore large yellow shoulder pads that extended out a foot from her broad shoulders. From the base of these pads, a large, dark orange triangle wrapped around her torso and part of her midriff before meeting at the tip with another triangle, with her bright yellow gem embedded to the left of this point. This one covered the rest of her stomach, leaving her sides exposed, showing off murky yellow skin. At the bottom of her second triangle, a yellow skirt appeared. The skirt fell down to her knees, leaving a few inches of bare skin before being covered up by dark orange boots. She grinned and stared down at Axinite with lime green eyes, her short hair ending in a perfect linear cut at the middle of her forehead, with the the rest of it ending at her chin line. The other gem was much smaller, around Feldspar's size. She stared at Feldspar with a lustful gaze, her eyes a deep indigo. Her skin was a bluish-purple, and her hair, a bright violet. Her long hair rested on her right shoulder, looping down into a fine point. Her blue shirt covered most of her body, save her shoulders, her stomach, and the top part of her chest, where her slanted eye shaped gem rested just beneath her throat. Her pants were a deep purple and poofy, and her feet were covered by black shoes. The giant gem was the first to speak.

"And here I thought we were going to have some time to catch up." She joked.

"We have a bit of time before Benitoite comes with the troops. In the meantime, Feldspar, Black Pearl, meet Sphene and Iolite." Axinite introduced.

"Pleased to meet ya! I'm Sphene." The great gem bellowed.

The purple bowed to the other gems, smiling to herself.

"And I am Iolite. The pleasure is mine." Iolite said smoothly.

Feldspar squinted her eyes.

"Quite." Feldspar said in a confused tone.

Iolite stood up straight and turned her attention to Black Pearl.

"So you must be Black Pearl. Such beauty, it breaks my heart to know that something as rare as you was nearly crushed by those petty higher ups." Iolite sympathized.

Black Pearl rolled her eyes and looked away. Iolite's warm smile turned into a curious frown.

"Am I being ignored?" Iolite wondered aloud.

"Don't mind her, she only really responds to me. And even then it isn't much." Feldspar assured her.

Sphene laughed.

"Can't exactly blame her. Being labeled trash and ordered to die the moment you're born will make you cautious of other people, at least." Sphene joked.

Black Pearl growled at the comment.

"Oops, laid it on too thick I guess. Apologies Black Pearl." Sphene said sincerely.

Black Pearl continued to wear her scowl and walked off towards the ship.

"I'm just gonna be over by the ship." She said coldly.

Sphene and Iolite watched her walk off and then turned their attention back to Axinite and Feldspar.

"You don't think she's pissed, right?" Sphene asked.

"I know she's pissed." Feldspar answered.

"I don't really care." Axinite added.

"Alright ladies, enough drama for now. Sphene, you can make it up to Black Pearl during the trip there. Axinite, would you care to fill us in on the details?" Iolite asked.

"In a minute. I would like to have Benitoite present first. She's gathering some Pearls for us." Axinite added.

Iolite raised an eyebrow at the statement and Sphene grinned.

"Why? Don't we have enough power as it is?" Sphene asked.

"Yellow Diamond insisted that I bring some troops with us. It'll ensure our success." Axinite explained.

"Well if the mistress insists, then who are we to turn such a lovely offer away?" Iolite said.

Feldspar walked away from the group and towards Black Pearl. Black Pearl was staring up at the ship, lost in her own thoughts. She saw the ashey gem's reflection in the ship and turned towards her.

"Come on Black Pearl, We're going to be briefed on the mission very shortly. It's imperative that you are present." Feldspar insisted.

Black Pearl sighed and walked back towards the group. Feldspar walked beside her.

"Fine, I'll pretend to be invested in the group. But as soon as they finish up, I'm going back on my own." Black Pearl promised.

"Fine. They're our allies, not our friends anyway." Feldspar said.

The two met with the group and the gate for the hangar opened. The others turned to see a dark blue gem walk into the room. She wore an ice blue, skintight onesie with white cracks forming around the center of her torso. On her upper hips rested her gems. Her hair was ocean blue, and her eyes were a deep piercing brown. She waved her hand, signaling something to follow her. As she walked forward, she was followed by a group of Pearls, their eyes blank and their faces dead. At their sides were gem destabilizers. As the troops marched into formation, the stern gem walked towards them. Axinite smiled warmly as the familiar gem approached them.

"Benitoite. So glad to see you brought a handsome number of troops with you." Axinite said warmly.

"Indeed. Yellow Diamond set a cap at one hundred, so I felt like maxing out for once in my life." Benitoite said in a calm tone, "However it came with a price.".

Axinite raised an eyebrow.

"A price? What do you mean?".

Iolite continued looking at the Pearls, but noticed something behind one of the final troops. She squinted and then saw a familiar face behind one of them. She felt a shiver go down her spine and brought her hand to her forehead. A pained expression grew onto her face and the sneaky gem let out an audible laugh. The others looked to see a bright yellow gem walking towards them. She wore a patterned shirt with repeating lime green and black diamonds with no sleeves. She also wore gold colored shorts. Her serene bowl cut ended in bramble bush of curls at the end, and her eyes were a bright yellow. Her square gems were at the top of her biceps. She walked past Bentonite and faced Axinite.

"Hello, Axinite. How are you today?" She asked in a sincere tone.

The others stared with mild surprise, save Black Pearl who had a rage filled expression with hers.

"I...well that's...nevermind, I'm doing-" Axinite started.

The yellow gem let out a light chuckle as her head fell down. She looked back up at Axinite, cocking her head to the side.

"I'm just messing with ya. What's up Axi?" She asked in a honeyed tone.

Axinite's expression faded into it's normal state.

"Oh there it is. Hello Heliodor. I see you've decided to come with us on your own." Axinite said.

"Well I heard that Iolite was going off and you know I can't let my precious little sweetheart go off on her own. You know if you get one you have to take the other. We're a package deal." Heliodor stated.

"Don't call me your precious little sweetheart. Just sweetheart and nothing else." Iolite stated.

"Heh, you're not the boss of me." Heliodor grinned.

The yellow gem noticed Black Pearl's wrathful gaze and decided to talk to her.

"Oh now there's a sight I haven't seen in a long time. How's it going Black Pearl?" Heliodor asked.

"Much better since you dragged me to my execution." Black Pearl growled.

"Oh yeah, and I'm really torn up about that. It's just that every time you talked, all I heard was "Kill me! I'm worthless! Kill me!". Must have gotten swept up in the moment." Heliodor said maliciously.

Black Pearl continued to glare at her. Heliodor continued to grin and held up her hands.

"But hey now, the past is the past. So why don't we bury the hatchet and do something productive with that pent of anger of yours instead of something you'll regret." Heliodor suggested.

"Heliodor! That's enough! If you're here just to stir up trouble with the ranks, then go back home." Iolite barked.

"Sorry sweetie, can't do that. You know I can't let you go off on your own. Besides, I came to warn all of you." Heliodor confessed.

"Warn us? About what?" Sphene asked.

Heliodor turned to Sphene.

"Guess. What's red, almost as big as you, and three times more scary?" Heliodor proposed.

Sphene's grin faded into a worried frown.

"Oh great." She uttered.

Suddenly, they heard a loud bang coming from the gate. The group turned back to see a large imprint in the door. Axinite turned to Benitoite.

"Uhh, Benitoite? Why is the gate locked?" She asked.

"I didn't lock it." The blue gem responded.

"I did." Heliodor confessed.

Feldspar turned to her.

"Why did you do that?" The grey gem asked.

"Well she was pretty pissed from the get go, so I figured putting an obstacle in her way would let her blow off a bit of steam." Heliodor explained.

"And who is she?" Black Pearl asked.

Heliodor turned to Black Pearl with a smile as the gate continued to be pounded on.

"Fluorite."

With that, the gate was broken into pieces, leaving a giant gaping hole in it. From the hole, stepped in a large, angry red gem. Her muscles bulged as she reached out for one of the Pearls, clutching it by the head and dragging it along with her. The massive gem stood tall over the Pearl she was dragging, and her hair was all but shaved off. She was a vibrant red, wearing a set of black pants and a black red shirt. Her bulky arms tore the sleeves, revealing her bright skin. Her gem was in the middle of her chin, and her eyes were like two pools of blood. She stomped up to Axinite with an angry scowl.

"What the fuck is this?" She asked as she held the Pearl up to Axinite.

"A Pearl, Fluorite." Axinite calmly answered.

Fluorite yanked the static Pearl back.

"No, this is an inferior option. Why did you bother with these pissant flunkies and yet not even shoot me a glance when it came to this mission!?" Fluorite yelled in her rough voice.

"Fluorite, on any other day I would have called on you for assistance, but for this mission, we need to capture a group of gems, not kill them." Axinite stated.

Fluorite gnashed her teeth and growled at the statement.

"What? You think that I can't go about fighting a gem without killing them!?" She yelled.

Her gem glew and her sharp teeth were reinforced with a set of blood red, jagged shards of gemstone. Her mouth extended wider into a vicious, rage filled face. She opened her jaws wide like a snake and turned to the Pearl. Quickly, she chomped down on the Pearl's forehead and eyes, blue blood gushing everywhere from the monstrous bite. Once she removed herself from the Pearl, there was a jagged line of flesh showing where the teeth had connected to her flesh, and everything they had removed. The poor Pearl had no forehead, no eyes, and most of its head's contents were gone. Fluorite's cheeks puffed up from the massive load of flesh in her mouth as she tossed the now lifeless pearl to the ground. It poofed away, and her cheeks returned to her original form. She willed her weapon away, and a large bulge was seen in her left cheek. She spat into her hand and displayed a large white pearl, stained with blue blood.

"There. Quick and simple." Fluorite stated.

The others stared with confused awe, save Iolite and Black Pearl, who were scowling.

"_Disgusting._" Iolite thought to herself.

Axinite grabbed the slimey Pearl and tossed it over to another one of the Pearls.

"Catch that." She ordered.

One Pearl responded and grabbed her fallen comrade out of the air without breaking formation. Axinite then turned back to the large red gem.

"Hrm...alright, you convinced me. You can come with." Axinite declared.

Fluorite let out a soft hiss.

"I didn't come here for your permission, I just came to go on the mission." Fluorite growled as she wiped the blood from her mouth.

"Speaking of which, you wanna explain what we're supposed to do?" Heliodor asked.

Axinite stepped back so every gem could stare at her. Heliodor had her arms crossed, while everyone else had a relaxed stance.

"This is a special mission from Yellow Diamond herself. The mission with Jasper had...complications. So we have to-"

"Wait wait wait, Jasper?" Heliodor repeated.

"That big bruiser?" Iolite said.

"Huh, wonder what was able to knock her block off." Sphene stated.

"Let me finish and I'll tell you." Axinite interjected.

The gems were silent and focused back on Axinite.

"When she was on Earth on a mission to reactivate the kindergarten, Jasper and Peridot took a detour to crush a group that call themselves the crystal gems." Axinite continued.

"Redundant much?" Heliodor laughed.

The others ignored her and Axinite continued on.

"Either way, the two of them encountered Rose Quartz along with that group. Thanks to the,, the ship was destroyed and Jasper was nearly killed." Axinite stated.

The group was surprised by the name Rose Quartz.

"So the mission is simple. First we pick up Jasper and Peridot. Second, we go to Rose's base and capture the gems. Third, we go to the kindergarten and activate it. Also capturing any gems that are on Earth. If they are there, we can safely assume they are part of Rose's forces." Axinite finished.

Feldspar stepped forward.

"So we can't just kill them right then and there? I understand Rose but that extra riff raff doesn't seem necessary." She asked.

"No. Yellow Diamond wants them captured." Axinite explained.

"Public execution?" Fluorite asked.

"Public execution." Axinite repeated.

"Well we have enough troops to cover both bases. So how about we divide up into two parties. First one can grab Jasper and go to Rose's base, and the second group can go do the kindergarten." Feldspar suggested.

"Hmm, how about we meet with Jasper first. The assault party can grab Jasper, and the activation party can grab Peridot. I'll lead the party to the kindergarten, and Feldspar can lead the party towards Rose's base." Axinite declared.

Feldspar let out an irritated groan, but begrudgingly nodded in agreement.

"I will take Black Pearl, Fluorite, and Iolite." Feldspar stated.

"And that leaves Sphene, Benitoite and Heliodor for me." Axinite said.

Feldspar turned to the orange gem.

"Yes, plus fifty Pearls.".

Heliodor let out a light chuckle.

"Alright then, if Rose Quartz is the name of the game…"

"...Let's play." Iolite said.

The two groups walked towards the Pearls. Black Pearl walked towards her ship, and Fluorite walked towards her own as the others went to gather the troops. Feldspar walked up to Axinite and stared at the tall gem. Heliodor walked next to Benitoite.

"Hey, we should grab a cannon." Heliodor suggested.

"Why would we need that?" Benitoite asked.

"Because I want one." The yellow gem answered.

In the meantime, Feldspar was talking with Axinite.

"You remember where my lab is?" She asked.

Axinite nodded.

"In case something goes wrong...unleash Pyrite." Feldspar said coldly.

"Hopefully it won't get to that point." Axinite hoped.

Feldspar turned away from Axinite.

"Tch. At least she would have something to take her anger out on.".

Axinite shook her head at the comment and looked at the Pearls leaping onto the ships. The two parties were completely still in the palm of the giant hands, and then they were enveloped in a green light, and sunk into the ship. Axinite walked into her ship, and Feldspar leapt onto hers. Iolite, Black Pearl and Fluorite jumped onto the ship after Feldspar, and then Heliodor jumped onto it with them. Iolite looked at the yellow gem with a sour grimace.

"Heliodor, go to your own squadron." The purple gem ordered.

Heliodor ignored her and walked up to Iolite. Before she could say something else, Heliodor kissed her on the cheek and smiled. Iolite blushed blue and stared at the yellow gem.

"A little good luck charm." Heliodor said with a grin, then turning and walking away, "Good luck! Kick some ass so we can go home.".

Heliodor jumped off the ship and saw Sphene carrying a giant, yellow, spiral cannon. Heliodor grinned widely at the sight of it.

"Aw yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Heliodor beamed.

Iolite stared at her lover run off to the ship.

"_God...bless her._" She thought.

The two main parties jumped onto the ship and phased into the deck. The Pearls had went below the main deck, leaving the main gems to themselves. In Axinite's ship, Axinite went to pilot the ship, Heliodor wandered off to explore, Sphene went to check out the troops, and Benitoite took a seat near one of the windows. In Feldspar's ship, Feldspar went to pilot the ship, with Black Pearl following her. Feldspar looked back at Black Pearl.

"I thought you said you wanted to be left alone." The grey gem asked.

"You understand me better than the others. If I truly want to not be bothered, it'd be best if I rest with you." Black Pearl stated.

"Fair enough.".

Meanwhile, Iolite and Fluorite were walking towards the window out of the ship. The two leaders made it to the ship's controls. They placed their hands into the control panel and their eyes went green. A wave of data flooded their minds, but the two managed to input the correct controls. The giant tendons detached from the wrist, and the hangar door slowly opened, showing the blackness of space, covered with thousands of stars and blanketed by colorful nebulas. The ships slowly floated out of the door and drifted into space. The hands straightened out and zoomed out of the door. The ships flew high above the homeworld and blasted off into space, flying towards Earth.

/**/

Yellow Diamond stared into space as she saw the giant green hands fly out and towards Earth. She grinned to herself and tapped the arm of her chair. A hologram of a flat screen appeared in front of her and she sat back in her throne.

"Open the frequencies for ships two and three." She commanded.

The hologram split in two and it displayed Axinite and Feldspar.

"Greetings mistress." The two of them said in unison.

"What's the estimated time of arrival?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"Estimated time...three weeks." Axinite answered.

"Very good. Take that time to prepare for the mission. And Feldspar.."

Feldspar had a frozen frown.

"...If you plan on awakening Pyrite, and I know you will, you will have her under control. I don't want her to destroy things here." Yellow Diamond requested.

Feldspar nodded.

"She will be under control, my mistress." Feldspar promised.

Yellow Diamond smiled.

"Excellent. Well good luck and be careful. Failure is not an option.".

Yellow Diamond closed the two holograms and grinned to herself. Everything would be fine. Her troops would take care of Rose, and soon she would have an even larger army. The planet Earth is doomed, and the Homeworld will rise in power.

/**/

Back on Earth, Jasper and Peridot were sitting near the totaled escape pod. Jasper was silent ever since Yellow Diamond's beratement. Peridot tried to talk to Jasper, but she ignored everything she said to her. Jasper stewed in her own anger and disappointment, torn apart by a torrent of blaming and emotions.

"_No...I didn't fail! I just underestimated their power. I went in a little over confident, but what did you expect!? They looked like nothing. And I know who's at fault for this...Rose. She freed the prisoners, she brought that stupid fusion back, she made Lapis turn against me! Well it's over now. Once the others get here, and we go and beat those crystal gems into the ground!...I will be back on top, and everything will be fine._" Jasper monologued in her head.

Suddenly, the ship displayed another hologram. Peridot and Jasper turned to see the image of Axinite.

"I'll make this quick. We're on our way to Earth. Jasper, you will come with Feldspar's group to attack Rose's base. Peridot, you will come with me and activate the kindergarten. Expect us there in three weeks." Axinite relayed.

Jasper got up from her seat and walked over to the hologram.

"Feldspar? Why is she here? Or are you thinking about bringing back…"

"Pyrite. Yes. Just in case something else comes back, like that Lapis Lazuli." Axinite stated.

"Lapis was crushed! She won't be interfering anymore." Jasper said confidently.

"Yes. But still...even if there is another surprise from Rose's party, they will be mere poultry to her." Axinite said sternly.

The hologram ended and Jasper looked to Peridot.

"You've seen Pyrite before when you worked with Feldspar, right?" Jasper asked.

Peridot nodded.

"What is she like?" Jasper asked.

"You know how you get when you're really angry and trying your best to intimidate everyone around you?" Peridot suggested.

"Yeah?".

"Picture that, but that's her neutral mood." Peridot stated.

"Okay that's personality, now how about power." Jasper requested.

Peridot looked away, remembering the grizzly scene, and then turned back to Jasper.

"When her imprisonment was ordered, we sent a squadron Pearls after her. I didn't hear what number it was, but Axinite and Sphene had to go along with them because of how outclassed the Pearls were. In the end, I saw Fluorite and Sphene covered in cuts and welts among a field of the dead, shattered gems. They barely contained her gems, but in the end they had won. I counted twenty broken Pearls. Fluorite scoffed when I said twenty." Peridot recollected.

Jasper stood in astonishment.

"What made them capture her?".

Peridot glared at Jasper.

"She was bored. She wanted to slaughter gems and have worthy opponents. We couldn't control her, so we had no choice.

Jasper felt a chill down her spine. She looked away from Peridot and towards the sky.

"Then again, that was thousands of years ago. I may have gotten some details wrong." Peridot suggested.

/**/

Deep in the kindergarten, hidden within the walls of canyons wall was Feldspar's lab. A large coat of dust covered everything, notes and tools broken and in disrepair. But in the back of the room, hidden behind a case of old tools, a pair of bubbles holding black gemstones were resting safely. Soon, Pyrite will be awakened, and the crystal gems will have to face a true monster.


	26. Chapter 26: Cruelty VS Heart Part 1

Polished Gems #26: Cruelty vs Heart Part 1

The sun was slowly falling down across the horizon, the orange sky painted the once white clouds with a pink outline. The sea was like a swell of pink lemonade, and Tourmaline was training with Taz. Using her powers, she levitated dozens of large rocks. Tourmaline stood in his usual fighting stance as he awaited his partner's barrage with eager anticipation. The others watched from the patio, with Tanza and Steven staring at the two very intensely. With a swipe of her hands, the enthusiastic young gem sent the volley of rocks at Tourmaline. Tourmaline stood his ground as the wave of stones came at him. One was approaching his head, so he punched the stone into pebbles. Another came towards his body, and he shattered it with a knee. The stones kept flying at him in an increasing pace, and Tourmaline kept shattering each and every stone that came near by. Tourmaline slammed one rock away with his arm, but when he turned around, a stray shot hit him in the middle of his forehead. Tourmaline let out a pained grunt, causing Taz to stop her attack. Worried for her friend, she stopped using her powers, causing all the other stones to fall to the ground, and ran up to Tourmaline, who was clutching his forehead.

"Tourmaline! Are you okay!?" She yelled out as she ran to him.

Taz stopped in front of her friend, looking up to see his pained grimace turn into a happy smile. He moved his hands away from his forehead, revealing a mildly bleeding welt. He crouched down and looked at his friend.

"Good job Taz! That was a really good assault. I could barely keep up with it!" Tourmaline congratulated.

Taz's worried expression calmed down a bit, and she reached up to his forehead to touch the welt.

"Yeah, but this is just training. I shouldn't have clocked you like that." She said.

Tourmaline pat Taz's head and chuckled.

"That just means you're getting stronger. And besides, this isn't much to worry about." He said as his wound healed.

Taz lifted Tourmaline's hand off of her head and looked up to him with a smile.

"Thanks Tourmaline." She said warmly.

Tourmaline got up from his crouch and moved next to Taz. He faced a boulder and focused on it. His legs began to glow as he got into his stance. In a split second, he unleashed a flurry of sidekicks, and each kick released a small green ball of energy. The barrage rocketed towards the boulder and on impact, exploded the giant rock into tiny chunks. Taz looked on in amazement and then turned back to Tourmaline.

"When'd you learn how to do that?" She asked.

Tourmaline looked down to her, still wearing the same grin.

"I've been practicing manipulating energy with my kicks. Each time I did a roundhouse or snap kick, it would make a giant wave of energy. So I tried practicing with other kicks to see how the energy would go out. And lo and behold, we got some unique stuff." Tourmaline explained, "Now go and gather up some debris. Let's go for another round!".

Taz nodded and ran off to gather more rocks. The other stared on, impressed by both the gems abilities.

"They're both growing very nicely." Garnet stated.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy." Tanzanite agreed.

Amethyst leaned on the patio railing.

"Yeah, the shrimp's doing great." Amethyst joked.

Tanza walked next to her with a warm grin. She was silent, but the others could tell she was proud of the small yellow gem.

Taz used her gem, and suddenly a swarm of broken rocks floated into the air. She faced Tourmaline with a determined look on her face. She saw him pointing towards the ocean.

"I'd like to see how my side shots are against other projectiles. And I'd rather not blast you with one too." He elaborated.

Taz nodded and sent her swarm flying across the sea. They flew about twenty feet over the surface of the water, facing Tourmaline. Tourmaline assumed his stance and glared at his challenge. With a flick of her hand, the stones came flying at Tourmaline. He started kicking rapidly, sending a flurry of energy towards the stones. Each one collided with the small rocks and blew up, creating a moderately sized explosion. The blasts caused clusters of stones to be blown to the side, but continued their fast travel. Tourmaline saw the stray shards and aimed his kicks towards them as well. In a matter of seconds, all the rocks in the air were gone and Tourmaline relaxed his stance.

"What speed and precision!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Heh, he really has honed his art." Sapphire commented.

Tourmaline turned to Taz to see her lifting a massive boulder. The giant rock was double Garnet's height, and as wide as a dump truck. She strained her gem, but she managed to levitate the massive thing. Tourmaline stared on with an excited grin. With a strained groan, she tossed the giant boulder at Tourmaline. Tourmaline rushed forward and leaped into the air. He brought his legs towards his torso, and then launched his legs out into a stylish dropkick. The first hit sent a sea of cracks across the giant rock's surface, but then Tourmaline's legs glew, and a wave of green energy came out, vaporizing the middle of the rock. The two, thin top halves crumbled into a small pile of rubble in the sand. Tourmaline continued flying through the air, and landed in front of the tired Taz. She panted as she looked up at Tourmaline, with his hands on his hips.

"Wanna call it a day?" Tourmaline asked.

Taz nodded and Tourmaline started to walk away. Taz followed him and as he went up the stairs with him. The two made it to the patio to see the others.

"How'd ya think she did?" He asked.

Tanza walked up to her exhausted friend, crouched down and smiled.

"She did wonderfully." She said warmly.

Taz smiled as she let Tanza pick her up. She carried the small gem in her arms as Tourmaline walked over, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before walking over to the others.

"Well that went really well. Like the new technique." Ruby said.

Tourmaline turned to his friend and grinned.

"Thanks. I learned it from watching Pearl." Tourmaline stated.

The others looked to a flustered Pearl.

"Oh, well...he wanted to see some of my abilities and I couldn't help but show off." She said modestly.

"Don't get a big head over it Pearl." Tourmaline said as he shifted his attention to Steven, "So, movie night?".

Steven grinned.

"Movie night! I got this super cool martial arts movie: Squatting Mantis, Twisted Spider!" Steven said cheesily.

Tourmaline chuckled.

"Sounds good. Let's watch it now." Tourmaline requested.

Steven nodded and ran inside. The others followed after the boy as Tourmaline stretched in place. As he stretched, he noticed the sky starting to blacken. In this twilight, he caught eye of a green dot flying overhead. He stopped his stretch and continued looking at the mysterious light.

"_A shooting star?_" He wondered.

"Tourmaline come on!" Ruby shouted.

Tourmaline snapped out of his thought and walked inside. He decided to ignore the light and go enjoy time with his friends. That light probably wasn't anything.

/**/

Far off from Beach City, in the cornfields, Jasper and Peridot continued to wait for their reinforcements. It had been a long wait, but three weeks is nothing for a gem. Jasper heaved a sigh and looked up to the sky. Overhead she saw a bright green light. Her blank stare turned into an intrigued expression.

"_Is that it?_" She wondered.

The light stopped, and the green light started to get bigger as it descended. As it came closer, Jasper grinned as she saw the outline of not one, but two giant hands. Peridot joined her by her side and looked up at their would be salvation. Eventually, the two ships landed, backhand down and then opening their fingers. From the palm, the gems from each respective ship came out. Feldspar was the first to leap out, followed by Black Pearl, Iolite, and Fluorite. Axinite's party was second to leap out. Jasper's grin grew wider as she saw the amount of reinforcements she had received. Feldspar and Axinite walked up to the pair.

"Hello there Jasper. Hope you weren't too bored while we traveled." Axinite greeted.

"Not bored, but the anticipation was killing me." Jasper admitted.

"Well then, let's not waste any more time then. You will be coming with me to Rose's base to capture the Earth gems. Peridot will go with Axinite to activate the kindergarten." Feldspar ordered.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Jasper joked.

"But first, Heliodor!" Axinite shouted.

There was no response. Axinite turned around to see Heliodor and Iolite talking.

"So the trip was that bad huh?" Heliodor mentioned.

"Well not exactly bad but it was so boring. Everyone kept to themselves and wouldn't say anything to me. If I didn't have the view out to space I would've put myself in my gem to spare myself the agonizing boredom." Iolite complained. "At least Fluorite calmed down and was her usual quiet self.".

"Heliodor!" Axinite shouted again.

This shout got Heliodor's attention. She turned around to see Jasper and Peridot. She grinned and looked back to Iolite.

"Guess this is another good-bye." Heliodor said as she walked over to her leader.

Heliodor moved past Axinite and to Jasper.

"Spare the words Axinite I know what you want me to do." She stated.

From behind her back, she pulled out three yellow rods. She took two in one hand and the remainder in the other while handing them over to Jasper and Peridot.

"Here you are ladies, classic gem destabilizers." Heliodor said.

Jasper put the two rods in her back pocket with a grin. Axinite turned away and walked back to her ship, waving for Peridot and Heliodor to follow her. Peridot and Jasper exchanged one final glance, and she wandered off after Axinite. Jasper turned to Feldspar.

"So what's the plan?" Jasper asked.

"We take the fight to Rose and her troops, and take them all down. Nothing too fancy." Feldspar explained.

"Alright. And I know I'm not exactly in the...best position to be making requests, but promise me one thing." The giant orange gem requested.

Feldspar stared on at Jasper's furious expression.

"Let me crush that fusion." She growled.

Feldspar nodded and walked towards the ship.

"So long as you don't break or crack her stones you can do whatever you want with her.".

Jasper grinned and ran towards the ship. She leaped up back onto it with the others, and they were just about ready to go on their way to their respective destinations.

/**/

Tourmaline and the others huddled around Steven's bed and watched the end of the movie. They saw a man with an eyepatch with a mantis tattoo on his back stare off into the distance as the sun set over a burning forest. The credits began to roll and most of the gems had a blank stare at the thing, including Steven.

"Eh, the prequel was better." Steven said.

"Next time start with that. I was completely lost." Tourmaline mentioned.

Steven turned to the others.

"You want to watch it?" He asked.

Tourmaline shrugged.

"Got nothing better to do." He admitted.

Steven smiled as he got up from his seat and moved to his closet to pick out the next dvd. But suddenly, he heard the sound of his phone's ringtone. He reached into his pocket and fished out his phone. He looked to see mayor Dewey's contact name. He immediately answered the phone.

"Hello." He greeted.

"Hey Steven. You uuuhh, you and the gems in town?" Mayor Dewey asked in a worried tone.

"No, why?" The boy asked.

"Cause we have a severe situation going on right now." Mayor Dewey answered in a panicked tone.

Steven's smile turned into a worried expression.

"How severe we talkin?".

"You remember that incident with the giant hand?" The older man asked.

Steven's eyes widened.

"Y...Yeah?" Steven uttered.

"Well...there's kind of another one currently flying over Beach City." Mayor Dewey stated.

Steven fumbled his phone, but managed to catch it.

"What!? What're they doing!? Is it landing!?"

The crystal gems huddled around Steven with fearful expressions. The other gems followed behind them.

"They're just hovering over the city. Don't worry, I already calmed the people and they're evacuating as we speak. Your dad is on his way to your house. Look, I gotta get back to managing the people. You be careful." The mayor said before he hung up.

Steven looked at his phone and back at the gems.

"Steven...what is it?" Pearl asked in a jittered tone.

"The...The Homeworld gems are back!" Steven shouted.

The crystal gems felt their hearts sink into their stomachs. Their greatest fear was right around the corner, and they were no where near as prepared as they were last time.

"Homeworld gems? What's going on?" Ruby asked.

Pearl turned to Ruby.

"A while ago, some gems from our Homeworld in space came and nearly destroyed us. If it weren't for Steven...well I don't know what would have happened to us." Pearl explained.

"But now it's for sure: we're doomed. Game over man!" Amethyst exclaimed, "No doubt they got a whole army of stuff coming after us now!".

"Both of you calm yourselves! We are not doomed. We may have a chance against them. After all…" Garnet said as she looked back at Tourmaline and his friends, "...We have a lot of back up this time.".

Tourmaline smiled, and then got an idea.

"Yeah...unknown backup." Tourmaline said.

Pearl and Amethyst turned around towards them.

"Well yeah, that's kind of the point dude." Amethyst commented.

"Exactly, but not just that. They're after you guys right? So let's say they got like three or five or one hundred guys in there. If they just see us in the open, they'll strike accordingly. But if they just see you guys, they'll go with their original gameplan and just go for it, leaving them perfect for an ambush!" Tourmaline explained.

Pearl and Amethyst turned to Garnet. Garnet nodded in agreement.

"It's a stretch, but it's our best chance right now. After all, we can't shoot the ship down. Okay, we'll leave it in your hands." Garnet said.

"We won't let you down." Tanza said.

"But a thing you need to know, they have these weapons called gem destabilizers. They're these weird fork things that shock you. If it touches you once, you're a goner." Pearl stated.

Tourmaline raised an eyebrow.

"What type of goner we talking about?" He asked.

"One hit took Garnet down." Amethyst answered.

"Oh my.." Tanzanite uttered.

"But they're pretty easy to break if you can grab it." Garnet mentioned.

The gems looked uneasy for a bit, but shook off their fears. They had to be strong. For each other and themselves. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven stood up and walked down the stairs.

"Wait in the house. Get ready to attack once they make their move." Garnet ordered.

The other gems nodded as they summoned their weapons. Before the gems could leave their home, the door swung open and in came Greg Universe. Steven and the others were shocked to see Steven's dad burst through the door.

"Dad!? Look...I know you're worried, and you're scared, but I gotta-" Steven started.

Steven was cut off when Greg picked up the small boy in a massive hug.

"I know Steven." Greg said.

He gently put the boy down and looked towards the gems.

"So...Greg, you're taking him, right?" Pearl asked.

Greg heaved a sigh.

"Even if I did, he'd find a way back to you guys. Sorry to say, but I can't help you with that." Greg explained.

Garnet walked over to Greg and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We might not make it out of this...but Steven will. This I promise." She said.

Pearl and Amethyst nodded. The other gems jumped down and faced Greg. A few tears welled up in his eyes, but he brushed them away. He looked back down at his son with a smile.

"Kick their butts, okay?" Greg said.

Steven nodded.

"Alright, I gotta go. That ship is almost here and if I stay any longer, I'm gonna really get in the way. Good luck to all of you!" Greg stated as he ran down the patio.

Steven and the crystal gems ran out of the patio to see Greg leap into his van, quickly speeding off to meet with the other residents in their convoy. Steven felt happy that his dad accepted what he had to do, but he couldn't let that distract him from the matter at hand. The gems leaped off the patio, and Steven ran after them. Tourmaline and his friends gathered around the windows of the house, looking on to see what might happen. Tourmaline looked to his friends, each one determined to fight and protect their planet. He grit his teeth and looked back outside.

"_I'll keep all of you safe. I promise._" He thought to himself.

Slowly, a giant green glow of light lit up the darkness of night. The gems waited in anticipation for the giant warship to come towards them. As it came near, the massive green fist turned over, lazily drifting down and towards the edge of the beach. It landed with a loud crash of water and sand, then opening it's palm to reveal it's contents. Amethyst pushed Steven behind them. No matter what, they would protect him. From the giant hand, out spawned a group of gems. The group consisted of Jasper, Feldspar, Black Pearl, Fluorite and Iolite. Each gem leaped down in unison and stared the crystal gems down. Each had a determined stare, with the exception of Jasper, who was seething with rage.

"So then, these are the crystal gems?" Feldspar asked.

"Yes. I remember each of their faces." Jasper growled.

Fluorite stepped a little bit farther than the rest of the group to get a closer look at them. She huffed and turned back around.

"Gotta say...I'm not impressed." Fluorite said calmly.

Jasper scowled at the red gem's rude comment.

"Then again...I haven't seen them fight. How about we let the grunts have a shot at them for a warm up?" Fluorite suggested.

"As much as I appreciate softening them up, I'd rather fight Garnet right here and right now." Jasper said.

Iolite laughed as she summoned a panel.

"Oh come now Jasper, let's have a little fun with this. After all, the longer we keep them here, the better." She chuckled as she began typing at strange symbols.

That comment made the crystal gems uneasy.

"What do you mean by that!?" Pearl shouted.

Feldspar stepped in front of the others and stared down the gems. A grin came across her cold face.

"What we mean is that we have troops going to the kindergarten as we speak. Who knows? They're probably already there." Feldspar answered.

The gem's were shocked by this horrific revelation. They were attacking two key points. If they fall, the Earth is doomed. If the kindergarten is active, the Earth is doomed. The gems were caught between a rock and a hard place, and if they didn't wrap this up quick, everything would fall to ruin. Suddenly, from the ship, out leaped a group of ten Pearls. The robotic things stared the gems down, the vision of them sent a shiver down Pearl's spine. From inside the house, the other gems had overheard everything. Ruby and Sapphire grit their teeth at the underhanded tactic while Tanza stared on with a determined expression. Taz and Tanzanite looked to their friends with worried expressions.

"You hear that? If the kindergarten is active, they pretty much win! We have to go stop them!" Sapphire stated.

"But look at the gems! They're outnumbered, they're relying on this ambush for an advantage. Who knows, they might be bluffing. We might have time!" Ruby argued.

Tanza looked over to the two gems.

"We can't risk it. We have to go and stop them now." Tanza stated.

"I know but...Tourmaline, what do you think we should do?" Ruby asked.

Tourmaline stared out the window with a mystified expression. Ignoring the enemy gems, and the other enemies swarming out of the ship, he could only focus on Feldspar. The gem responsible for his creation, the gem who launched the breeding program and started the chain of events that lead to him, was standing right outside with a smile on her face.

"_Why? Why is she here?! Of all the insane destined meetings, this has to take the cake! But since she's here, I can…_" Tourmaline thought to himself.

The memories of the crystal eyes' visions flooded his mind. The creation, the drug, his fate in the future, it could all be explained and changed if he's able to capture her. He needed to do this. He had to get her before the others destroyed her. It was his only chance to prevent the horrific future from becoming a reality. Taz pulled on Tourmaline's pants, bringing him back to reality. He looked down at the small gem.

"Tourmaline...are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine." He stated.

"Well, what do you think we should do? They're taking both points like they were nothing." Ruby said.

Tourmaline grumbled to himself, and then turned back to her.

"Ruby, you take the others and eliminate the threat at the kindergarten. If that's active then it doesn't matter what we do here." Tourmaline stated, "I'll stay behind and give the others back up.".

The others stared at Tourmaline flabbergasted by his suggestion.

"Tourmaline...you can't be serious." Tanzanite uttered.

"I am. They probably sent a small scout party to take care of the kindergarten, so you guys can take them out quickly and then return back to us. I think I can stall them long enough for you guys to return, but not if we keep running our mouths like this." Tourmaline explained.

The others stared at each other with uneasy expressions, but they turned back to Tourmaline and nodded. Sapphire and Tanzanite were the first to run to the warp pad. Tanza stopped next to Tourmaline, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. The two stared into each other's eyes with a look that said "Stay safe", and she ran off with Taz. Ruby stopped and looked at Tourmaline with a worried expression.

"Tourmaline...we'll be right back so don't do anything too risky." She requested.

Tourmaline grinned.

"Never got the hang of not taking risks." He joked.

Ruby smiled, and turned back to the warp pad. She quickly ran across the room and got on with the rest of the gems. With a flash of light, they all vanished.

"_Be careful._" He wished in his head.

From outside, Black Pearl noticed a glow coming from the house. Although obscured by the ship's light, she swore she saw something come out of the house.

"You see that?" She asked Feldspar.

Feldspar glanced back at Black Pearl as the pearl soldiers marched in front of them.

"See what?" Feldspar repeated.

"I saw a light glow from the house." The dark gem elaborated.

"It's probably just nothing. A trick from the ship's own lighting. Keep your mind off of it, enjoy the show to come." The ashy gem joked.

Black Pearl let out a soft hiss and shifted her attention back to the pearls standing in a battle formation, gem destabilizers drawn. The sight of these "normal" pearls made her sick. Lifeless puppets, that's all they were. But they were expendable, and that's all that mattered to the Homeworld gems. Fluorite was crouching, waiting for the attack to commence. Feldspar raised her hand to the sky, and tilted it slightly to the right.

"Attack." She said sternly.

The pearls' eyes glowed red, and they charged forward. The crystal gems charged forward, weapons drawn, and attacked. Amethyst wrapped her whip around one on the right, and swung the Pearl back, slamming her against the canyon wall. Garnet rushed in, and four pearls surrounded her, two from the air and two from behind her on the ground. Pearl charged forward, dodging the other two pearls elegantly, and fired her spear at the two gems behind Garnet. The bursts of smoke were a good enough safety signal for Garnet. With blinding speed, she slammed her giant fists into the pearls' torsos, tearing through them. The two things twitched, and raised their destabilizers to strike Garnet. The giant gem quickly responded by launching her massive gauntlets forward, rocketing the enemies away from her. The two missiles landed a ways in front of the homeworld gems, causing a massive explosion of dust, but left the gems somewhat unphased by the blast. Meanwhile, Pearl was struggling against three pearls ganging up on her. She could only dodge as the proded and slashed with their wicked weapons. However, Amethyst managed to wrangle two with her whips, pulling them away from Pearl and giving her a much easier fight. Amethyst flung them high and slammed them into the ground hard. The impact created a massive explosion of dust, and Pearl managed to impale the remaining grunt, then flung her towards the giant dust cloud. The crystal gems stared at the Homeworld gems, and all the broken pearls bursted into dust, retreating into their gems.

"Oh? Guess there's more to them than I thought." Fluorite admitted.

"Agreed. Such formidable forces should have a greater warm up. Let's send in the remainder of our troops." Iolite said deviously.

Feldspar looked back at the violet gem.

"Leave a pack of ten. You never know." Feldspar mentioned.

Iolite heaved a sigh and continued pressing away at her screen. From the giant hand, thirty pearls sprung into the air, all with their gem destabilizers drawn. The crystal gems grimaced at the sight.

"Aw come on!" Amethyst whined.

"It's okay. They're just small fry. A lot of small fry." Pearl stated.

"Gems! Get ready!" Garnet ordered as she summoned a new pair of gauntlets.

Suddenly, they heard the door to their house slam open. A green flash tore through their railing and went flying towards the pearls. The first four gems were disintegrated by the blast, and then the energy burst, causing the pearls to scatter throughout the air. The Homeworld gems stared up in astonishment at the surprise attack. A mysterious figure rushed off of the patio and into the air. The crystal gems looked up to see Tourmaline. Tourmaline's leg glew and then with a flurry of sidekicks, he sent a swarm of energy balls towards the remaining pearls. Nearly each one hit it's target, and destroyed the grunt. As Tourmaline fell to the ground, so did around sixteen pearls. The Homeworld gems had curious gazes at the mysterious gem that emerged from the house overhead. Eight of the pearls got up and ran up to Tourmaline, with the others following behind. Tourmaline stood his ground and waited for the pearls to get in close. Four leapt up to attack and the others stayed on the ground. Tourmaline crouched down, and felt Pearl leap onto his back. She pressed off him, with two spears in hand, and cleaved the air strike down. With a mighty kick, Tourmaline sent the ground forces flying to the side. Amethyst reacted by whipping the gems, tearing them to ribbons. Pearl continued her attack by firing at the remaining troops. She took two out, but the remaining six leaped up to her. Garnet launched her fists again, knocking three away, and Tourmaline ran in with a jump followed by a repeated spinning roundhouse, cleaving the other pearls in half. He landed on the sand, a yard away from Feldspar, and stared her down.

"So...are you done playing with toys?" Tourmaline stated coldly.

/**/

Deep within the confines of the kindergarten, Axinite led Peridot, Sphene, Heliodor and Benitoite to the would be entrance to the activation point. As the group walked and observed the giant, inactive structures, Peridot and Axinite scanned the ground for the right location. Peridot stopped in her tracks when she noticed a familiar spot on the ground. Axinite turned to Peridot and the others stopped.

"Is this it?" She asked.

Peridot nodded.

"Yes but the crystal gems did some serious damage to the activation point. I'm going to have to do things manually in order for this to work." Peridot explained.

Heliodor walked up to the green gem.

"How long?" She asked.

"About two hours, give or take a few minutes." Peridot answered.

Heliodor groaned and fell down on her back. Sphene walked over to her as Benitoite walked over to Axinite.

"This suuucks! How'd I get stuck with babysitting while my lovely is fighting without me?" Heliodor asked.

Sphene crouched over her.

"Things like this happen sometimes. Can't help it, but the least you can do is quit your whining." Sphene stated.

Heliodor rolled her head back to look at the ground behind her. Everything was the same lifeless rock and ground, but then she saw a large cloud of dust. She rolled over on her front and got up. Sphene looked over to see what her ally was looking at, and then suddenly, the blur made it to them. Heliodor felt a sharp pain as the fast thing collided with her face, launching her towards Axinite and the others. Axinite looked over to see the small gem launched to her. She caught her, sliding back a few feet, and placed her back on the ground. She shook her head, spilling a bit of blood from her wound, and stared at the mysterious figure, which leaped back. The dust settled and revealed the enraged form of Tanza.

"Oh thank god. And here I thought this was going to be a boring mission." Heliodor said as she rubbed her chin, "Least we got a punching bag.".

Suddenly, the other gems formed around Tanza, their weapons drawn and ready to go.

"And now we each have one. Sweet!" The small yellow gem joked.

"I take it you're followers of Rose Quartz then?" Benitoite asked as she walked over to the others.

"You could say that. Right now we're just defenders of Earth." Ruby said.

"Oh well that won't do." Axinite said.

With that, Axinite's weapon slithered out from the gemstone under her arm. A large, sharp orange spike twirled around her arm, leaving a long brown chain behind it. Sphene gripped her stomach, and pulled out a large ball of light. She let the ball drop and it slammed into the ground, leaving behind a thick rod of light. The ball then shot out rows of small, pointy spikes. The light dispersed to reveal a giant, dark yellow mace. Benitoite placed her hands her hip gems and pulled out two small, light blue crossbows, each cocked with a nearly white bolt of energy. Heliodor placed her hands on her biceps, and then pulled out two large bright yellow knives from her gems.

"Peridot! Don't concern yourself with these miserable runts. We'll take care of them." Axinite ordered, "Just take care of the kindergarten.".

Peridot nodded as she ran to the center of the would be platform. A green light formed around her in a perfect square, and she began her descent. The other gems grimaced and got ready to fight.

"Let's make this quick. We have some friends we want to get back to." Tanza demanded.

"Oh don't worry, you'll be with them soon...in a cell!" Heliodor threatened.

Sapphire and Ruby stared blankly.

"Wow that's...not very threatening." Sapphire admitted.

"We were ordered to capture guys like you, not kill. Sorry I'm a little limited here." Heliodor admitted.

"Don't worry, you tried." Ruby said.

"Can we focus!?" Axinite shouted.

With that, Tourmaline's friends charged the Homeworld gems, determined to beat them down and go back to their would be struggling friends.

/**/

Tourmaline stood his ground, facing the Homeworld gems with the crystal gems right behind him. Feldspar looked over to Jasper.

"So, is this a gem you faced before?" Feldspar asked.

Jasper turned to the leader.

"No Feldspar, this one's new." She stated as she turned back to the others.

Feldspar looked over to Tourmaline, who had an angry scowl on his face. Pearl skidded over to Tourmaline and got close to him.

"Very nice backup Tourmaline, but where's the rest of it?" Pearl whispered.

"They're at the kindergarten stopping whoever is there." Tourmaline answered quietly, "So for now, we're stalling until they get back.".

"Sounds good. Any ideas that won't get us wiped out? Because we're still outnumbered five to four.".

"Don't worry, I have an idea. To be honest, I've been waiting for the day to meet her." Tourmaline admitted.

"Her? You mean Jasper?" Pearl asked.

Tourmaline ignored Pearl and stepped forward. Feldspar placed her hand on her hip gem and pulled out a large, grey dagger with a brown handle. He stopped a few feet in front of her and stared his creator down.

"So...we finally meet, Feldspar." Tourmaline calmly stated.

Feldspar's stern expression wavered and she raised an eyebrow at the stranger calling her name.

"Come again?" She blurted out.

"You know this gem?" Black Pearl asked.

"Of course I don't!" Feldspar barked before turning back to Tourmaline, "What do you know of me?".

Tourmaline grimaced.

"I know about your special little program you had going on thousands of years ago. I know that you've been working on it far beyond the program on Earth as well." Tourmaline explained.

"What!? How do you know this!?" Feldspar yelled.

Tourmaline's grimace turned to a grin.

"I read your books, sweetie." He joked.

Feldspar raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"Oh, so you're a joker huh? Well I don't joke around, so tell me what you know now." She demanded.

Tourmaline's smile faded away.

"You may not know me, but you know my parents very well." Tourmaline stated.

"Stop playing the pronoun game and tell me some names." Feldspar ordered.

Tourmaline was silent for a second.

"Jade and Aquamarine are my father and mother." He stated.

The mention of their names sent a shock through Feldspar's entire core. She glared at Tourmaline with a shocked expression. This boy standing in front of her is her final product. Her thousands of years experimenting and perfecting added up to this gem staring at her. As much as she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't help but find it true. His eyes...they were just like his father's. She grit her teeth and continued to glare at him.

"So...you're those two's son? I'm surprised to see you alive, considering the bloodbath that ensued." Feldspar said.

"Yeah, go figure." Tourmaline jested.

"So, why bring this up? You most likely know everything I could possibly tell you." Feldspar said.

Tourmaline glared at Feldspar.

"Oh don't worry, you still have plenty to tell me. And after I beat your flunkies into their gems, you and I are going to have a very long, painful, talk." Tourmaline threatened.

Feldspar blinked at the statement and then laughed.

"Oh well that's just precious. Well since you're so eager to fight, Black Pearl! Take him down." Feldspar ordered.

Black Pearl looked over to her leader with a skeptical look on her face.

"I don't think I'm strong enough to beat him." Black Pearl admitted.

Feldspar turned over to Black Pearl.

"What are you talking about? I'm certain in your capabilities." She stated.

"He just destroyed an entire squadron of pearls." The black gem stated.

"Not really much of an achievement. They were really weak." Tourmaline commented.

Feldspar turned back to Tourmaline.

"You stay out of this!" She demanded.

She felt something big brush past her, and then Jasper's giant frame came into her vision. Tourmaline stared up at the giant gem, who had a malicious grin on her face.

"Look, I don't know what kind of crap you and Feldspar have going on, but I don't like your attitude. If you're so confident in your fighting skill, lets see you handle me." Jasper dared.

Garnet glared at the giant gem.

"Tourmaline, move back! This opponent is too strong for you!" She ordered.

Tourmaline looked back and saw the worried gem.

"This the gem that knocked your block off last time?" Tourmaline asked.

Garnet scowled and nodded. Tourmaline whistled and turned back to Jasper.

"How'd you do that? One of those gem destabilizer things?" He asked.

Jasper raised an eyebrow at the statement. Not wanting to leave the boy in suspense, she pulled a rod from her back pocket, with a flick of her wrist, the thing extended into a long, tuning fork like object. A ball of yellow energy radiated around the tip of the fork. She held it to her side, staring confidently at Tourmaline.

"Yes. One hit and your mighty Garnet cracked and crumbled like the weakling she is." Jasper said deviously.

"Oooooh. So you cheated." Tourmaline stated.

Jasper scowled at his statement.

"Excuse you?" She said.

"Yeah, those things defeat gems in one blow. Sooo, you cheated to win." Tourmaline repeated.

"But I still had to hit her with it!" Jasper argued.

"Yeah...once. And I imagine that you lost the second time you fought her." Tourmaline speculated.

Jasper growled in frustration.

"Yes, but that's because she broke my gem destabilizer!" She shouted.

"So you admit it's a crutch and why you won last time!" Tourmaline jested.

Jasper grit her teeth hard and growled louder. While distracted, Tourmaline quickly moved forward. He pushed Jasper's stomach, making the giant gem step back. He then grabbed the destabilizer out of her hands and hopped back. Jasper stared at Tourmaline, dumbfounded by his speed. Tourmaline glanced at the thing and back to Jasper. He grinned and then crushed the thing at the base. The lifeless thing crumbled to the ground as Jasper's anger came to a boil.

"No more toys. How about you fight with the weapons you were given to you like a big girl?" Tourmaline asked maliciously.

Jasper seethed with anger, gnashing her teeth and getting ready to fight. Garnet could wait, she needed to teach this disrespectful whelp a lesson. A light came from her head, and a helmet with a large protrusion appeared around it. Tourmaline raised an eyebrow at the strange weapon and then pointed at Jasper and laughed.

"Oh my gosh! That's your weapon!? A safety helmet!?" Tourmaline laughed.

The other gems spectating this event all had the same thought running through their heads: Is this kid brave, or stupid?

Jasper continued to grit her teeth, but then stopped. She heaved a sigh and eased her stance. Tourmaline stopped laughing and stared at Jasper.

"I have to say, I'm impressed with confidence. I think instead of capturing you like the rest of your friends I'll just GRIND YOU TO DUST!" She shouted.

"Woah now, no need to get all snippy." Tourmaline said.

Jasper heaved a heavy breath.

"I know, and I apologize for it. I'm just a bit...livid. It's just that I'm finally back here, ready to get my revenge on the gems who humiliated me, and instead I have to deal with a brat who has issues with a washed up scientist." Jasper spat.

Tourmaline summoned his grieves as Jasper finished.

"Oh Jasper stop being such a whiner." He stated.

"Tch, you really don't know when to keep your mouth shut." Jasper spat.

"True but the difference between you and me is that when I talk cocky and throw out threats...I can back it up." Tourmaline stated.

With that, Jasper charged forward, and Tourmaline charging towards her. She reached her giant fist back and swung it forward towards Tourmaline's face. Tourmaline leapt up and slammed his knee into the fist and a violent crack of her knuckles slamming against his steel reverbed through the air. Tourmaline fell to the ground, sliding a bit back, but charged back at the giant gem. She swung again, but Tourmaline dodged it. She then slammed her head down, intending to crush his skull, but Tourmaline shot his head up under the protrusion, and slammed his face against hers. The two strained as each of them we're pushing against each other. Jasper had a wrathful expression on her face and Tourmaline had his sadistic grin.

"Let's have some fun." He said twistedly.

/**/

Benitoite dashed along the hollowed out walls of the kindergarten, avoiding the human sized holes as she turned over to fire shots of blue energy at a chasing Tanza. Tanza skated along the ground, catching up to the small blue gem as she dodged the shots, each one creating a bush of icicles protruding in all directions. Meanwhile, Sapphire was fighting Sphene, dodging the giant yellow gems massive swings as she got closer to her. Sphene wound up for another vicious strike, and Sapphire pounced on her, leaping onto her massive frame, then digging her claws into the giant's flesh. Sphene clenched her teeth in pain, but managed to grab Sapphire by the head, squeezing it tightly as she yanked her off her body. Sapphire's claw was soaked in golden blood. She looked to see the gaping hole in her adversary's stomach before she was swung head first into the ground. Sphene stomped down on the smaller gem, but Sapphire rolled out of the way. Sphene looked down at her opponent, whose forehead started to bleed.

"How about you just give it up? You're out classed and Yellow Diamond might go easy on you if you come quietly." Sphene offered.

Sapphire scowled at her.

"And let you destroy Earth? Like hell!" She shouted.

With that, Sapphire leaped up at her and delivered a slash, which was blocked by Sphene's massive mace. The giant gems swung her yellow fist in an arc, and Sapphire dodged again. Tanzanite struggled with her opponent, Heliodor, as the crazed yellow gem slashed wildly at her, not caring for defense in exchange for overwhelming offense. With one strike, Tanzanite felt one of the blades burrowing deep into her shoulder. Heliodor grinned ecstatically and held the other knife up to her throat.

"Go ahead. I wanna hear you scream." Heliodor laughed sadistically.

Tanzanite spat in the yellow gem's face, and Heliodor scowled.

"Well...at least I got something out of you." She commented.

Suddenly, she felt something small slam against the back of her head. She turned to see Taz, standing a ways behind her and holding a rock in her hand. Heliodor smiled and giggled at the sight.

"Oh my gosh this is just precious. At first I couldn't believe they brought a kid to a war. Super irresponsible. But hey, it looks like she's got some fighting spirit." Heliodor complimented as she removed the knife from Tanzanite's throat while twisting the one in her shoulder, "But it's going to take a few thrown rocks to stop me.".

Taz's gem began to glow, and a swarm of small and midsized rocks floated into the air. Heliodor's smiled faded into a worried frown.

"That's a lot of rocks." She stated.

Tanza pointed forward and the rocks all homed in on Heliodor. She couldn't dodge the fast shots, so she covered her face and braced for impact. The jagged stones cutting her as the impacted.

"Ow, ow ow ow OW!" Heliodor blurted out.

One of the rocks hit her hand and her free knife fell to the ground, after a few seconds, the barrage stopped and Heliodor lowered her guard.

"Heh, see? I'm still standing." She said wearily.

Taz laughed.

"Oh I know it wouldn't be enough, that's why I took your knife." Taz said happily as a yellow knife floated next to her.

Heliodor's eyes widened at the sight.

"Uhh, really? I can just poof it back. Besides little girls shouldn't play with-"

Suddenly, she felt an intense pain go across her back as Tanzanite slashed her. She let go of the knife in her shoulder and Taz launched the knife at Heliodor's chest, sinking deep into the twisted gem.

"She's a century old. Not that little." Tanzanite stated.

Axinite swung her spike in a circle at intense speed, running towards Ruby in an attempt to chop her to bits. But Ruby backstepped the assault, and then managed to knock the sharp spike away with one of her swords. With a loud clang, she ran in towards Axinite. The brown gem glared at the light red one as she dodged a slash towards her abdomen. Ruby continued her attack, only to be interrupted mid swing by a kick to the stomach. Axinite pulled her spike back and grabbed it in her hands. Ruby landed on her feet, looking back at her opponent only to see the spike fly towards her. The large thing impaled her chest and Ruby let out a scream of pain. Axinite yanked her towards her, and Ruby went flying. She grit her teeth at the pain, but managed to break loose of it. Regaining her focus, she tore the spike from her chest and threw one of her swords at Axinite. Axinite's eyes shot wide open and she felt her arm being cut deep. She looked to see a massive cut through her arm, nearly severing it. Ruby landed next to Axinite and swung her other sword, cutting through the larger gem's torso. Orange blood spilled out and she responded by wrapping her chain around Ruby and then swinging her around. She let the red gem fly and ran away.

"_Damn it! Why are gems this powerful here on Earth!?"_ She thought to herself as she scanned the walls of the kindergarten for Feldspar's lab.

She managed to find a blank space near the various holes of the kindergarten, and groaned. She placed her hand on the wall and entered Feldspar's abandoned workspace. She grimaced at the thought of what she had to do, but she was all out of options.

"_I can't believe this. To resort to awakening Pyrite this early...no, we don't have to do this. The others can just use the gem destabilizers to-_"

She heard a loud thud from outside. She quickly peeked out to see Benitoite, lying in a crater, with her gem destabilizer smashed and her crossbow cracking. She went back into the lab and turned to the shelf that hid Pyrite's gems.

"_Nevermind, time for the last resort._" She thought.

She threw the shelf aside and saw a bubble containing two black, rectangular gems. She heaved a sigh, and popped the bubble. The two gems fell to the ground with a clink, and were motionless. Axinite blinked at the inactivity of the gemstones, and her curiosity drove her to picking them up. Suddenly, she felt a shock rush through her hands and she let go of the stones, which now started floating in the air. She stared on in horror as a black void emanated from the two stones. The black void made the room shake and rumble, old notes and old technology fell of their shelves and the rocky ceiling started to crack and crumble. The black, amorphous blob started to take the shape of a woman. First came a demonic face from the top of the blob. A mouth formed and began to screech and scream. Two, muscular arms tore their way out of the blob and flexed out. Then the legs appeared, titanic and strong, as thick as tree trunks. The next phase was the formation of the torso and pelvis, two breasts and muscular abdominals formed, and finally her pelvis. The transformation ended with her true face finally forming, along with her hair and her clothes morphing onto her. Axinite fell back in fear as the figure stared down at her. Her skin was as black as night, and her eyes, an iron like color, only had a small, red, circular line to show her pupils. Her thick lips formed into a threatening scowl. Her hair was short, ragged and a cloudy grey color. She was clothed in a black suit with silver markings running down the sleeves and legs. Her gems rested on the upper part of her triceps. Axinite was groveling at her bare feet.

"_She...she looks even more terrifying than she did before!_" She commented in her head.

The black gem's mouth hung open, revealing her silver tongue and let out a loud hiss. Axinite shuttered at the act as she laid on the ground, paralyzed with fear. The titanic gem stepped forward, causing Axinite to flinch, and then she stepped over Axinite's legs and stopped. She bent down and got a close look at Axinite's face. Axinite tried her best to smile, to put the violent gem at ease.

"H-Hello Pyrite! It's good to see you here and well. We finally decided that it's time you-" Axinite fumbled nervously.

Pyrite quickly shoved her finger into Axinite's eye. Orange blood leaked out as Axinite screamed in pain. Pyrite stood up straight and glared down at the pitiful gem writhing in pain. A dark glow emanated from Pyrite's gems and formed her weapons. Her hands and arms were clad in spiked, black cestus. The silver spikes sparkled brightly in comparison to the black metal. She held her hand out with her palm and fingers somewhat flat, and an audible buzz was heard. Axinite, holding her bleeding eye socket with one hand looked up to see a small silver ball form in Pyrite's hand, with a field of black crackling energy around it.

"Wait! Pyrite! Fe...Feldspar needs to talk to you!" Axinite begged.

Pyrite raised an eyebrow at the statement and the energy from her hand went away. Axinite stumbled to her feet and sloppily pulled out her monitor.

"Just...just let me do this thing real quick and you can talk to her." Axinite said, terrified of the giant black gem.

As Pyrite stared at the strange object, she remembered her creator. The one who raised her at her infancy and created her into the warrior she is now.

"Feldspar…" She said slowly in a rugged, monstrous tone.

/**/

Jasper swung her fists down at Tourmaline, but the boy dodged the massive blows. Jumping through the cloud of dust and sand, he flung his knee forward towards Jasper's face, only to collide with her massive helmet. He bounced back and Jasper swung another punch. Tourmaline dodged the first hit, but Jasper followed up with a spinning back kick, sending Tourmaline falling into the sand. He laid on his front and Jasper charged over. She leaped into the air and spun three times, then charging down with intense speed. Tourmaline rolled over to his side and then flipped back. Jasper shot straight through the sand, leaving a massive hole and an enormous cloud of dust. Tourmaline scanned around to see her, but suddenly, she burst from the sand, head first and slammed into Tourmaline's stomach. The boy coughed violently as the blow took hold, and then flew through the air with Jasper. Jasper grabbed Tourmaline and then removed herself from his stomach. She moved him behind her and then gripped her hands together tightly. She then slammed them down on Tourmaline's back. Tourmaline let out a cry of pain as he was sent flying back down to the beach. He rolled across the beach, skidded across the water, and eventually slid into the streets of Beach City. The other gems, with Steven hiding behind Amethyst as they ran, quickly gathered to see Tourmaline lying lifeless in the streets, and then moved to the side as Jasper rolled forward in a ball of death. Quickly waking up, Tourmaline punched through the ground in front of him and grabbed a manhole cover. He tossed the thing back as hard as he could at the spinning ball, smacking Jasper hard in the back. She grit her teeth in pain as she lost her form, stumbling to her feet. The young gem then rushed forward to her, jumping up and slamming his knee into Jasper's face, creating a loud bang and a crash of glass as her visor shattered. Tourmaline then landed and immediately did a flip kick, cutting through her torso and hitting her chin with the bottom of his shoe. The goliath gem was lifted up into the air, and then Tourmaline grabbed her leg. He swung her through the fryman shop, shattering glass and support beams and then threw her far down the street. As she bounced, Tourmaline sent a shockwave of green energy through a kick, hitting Jasper and creating a massive explosion. Tourmaline glared at the smoke cloud and waited while the other gems stared on in awe.

"_Incredible._" Pearl thought.

The Homeworld gems were also blown away by the display of raw power.

"Wow, who knew Jasper was such a lightweight?" Iolite commented.

"I don't think it's that, it's just that this kid is that good." Fluorite added, "I can't wait to tear him apart.".

"In your wildest dreams Fluorite." Iolite cracked.

Black Pearl walked next to Feldspar, still blown away by the fight she's viewing. Feldspar silently stared on at the boy.

"_Such destructive power...such magnificent movement...I need to get him back, no matter what the method._" She thought.

Suddenly, her monitor popped up. Irritated by the interruption, she angrily grabbed the thing to answer the message.

"What is it Axinite?! I am very busy right now!" She seethed.

"Feldspar we have a problem!" Axinite shouted.

"What something impeding the process of the activation?" Feldspar asked.

"Well...yes but if you solve this problem first I can solve the other one." The voice stated.

"Well spit out then!" The ashy gem demanded.

"Hello...Mother." She heard a familiar, demonic voice call to her.

Feldspar froze in fear, She knew this would happen, but wasn't expecting it so soon. Fluorite overhead the call and turned to Feldspar, who had a terrified expression on her face.

"Is...is that who I think it is?" She sheepishly asked.

Feldspar quickly turned to Black Pearl and shoved her in front of her. Black Pearl turned back to her leader with a mystified expression.

"Don't you dare miss a single detail from this fight!" She demanded as she ran off, then shifting her attention back to the monitor.

Black Pearl nodded and looked back at the smoke clearing. Tourmaline raised an eyebrow to see Jasper covering her body with her massive arms, which had burn marks on them. She slowly moved them out of the way to show her stern angry glare. As she slowly got to her feet, Tourmaline turned back to Garnet.

"Okay, she's pretty durable! How did you beat her?" Tourmaline called out.

"I threw her into a ball of energy, and then let a massive ship blow up around her!" Garnet explained.

Tourmaline raised an eyebrow and shot a skeptical gaze at Garnet.

"So...you cheated to win the second time?" Tourmaline asked.

"Why does it matter!?" Pearl called out.

Jasper smirked and began walking towards Tourmaline. She stopped a few yards in front of him and called to him.

"Need your nannies to give you some advice?" She taunted.

Tourmaline turned back and smiled at her.

"No. We were just recounting the time Garnet handed you your generously sized butt." Tourmaline shot back.

Jasper chuckled at the comment.

"Cute." She said.

Tourmaline crossed his arms and stared the giant gem down. He was still worried about the others. They should've been back by now.

"_I might have to wrap this up quickly so we can get to them. Guess the repair group had some muscle._" He thought.

"Hey, not that this isn't any fun, but I'm going to give you one more chance to take your friends and get off of my planet. Otherwise I'm going to have to start taking this seriously." Tourmaline threatened.

The others stared, stunned by his bold statement.

"_That's gotta be a joke. There's no way he's hiding his true power!_" Fluorite thought.

Jasper scowled at this statement.

"Oh come on! During a fight like this, now you're resorting to bluffs?" She called out as Tourmaline slowly spread his legs to assume a semi-crouching stance, "Please, I felt your blows and seen your attacks! That's all you can do with such a weak, puny body. Quit embarrassing yourself!".

Tourmaline quickly crossed his arms in front of his torso, then slowly bringing his elbows to his sides. He grit his teeth and started growling The gems on his shins began to glow and a loud rumbling noise was heard from him. Then a crackling noise was becoming increasingly audible. And then, a few small bolts of green lightning started sparking of Tourmaline's gems. Everyone around him stared, shocked at the display of power. From behind Amethyst, Steven peaked over to see Tourmaline, flexing all of his muscles and preparing his body to go all out.

"_You can do it Tourmaline._" Steven said to himself.

Tourmaline let out a loud roar and the green glow grew brighter around him. The gems stared at the boy, mystified by the vivid green color, but snapped back to reality when the light faded, and revealed Tourmaline, standing calm and serene. Jasper let out a disgusted grunt.

"Impressive light show, but I doubt that did anything to make you strong-"

Tourmaline quickly rushed forward and jumped up, kicking Jasper in the face faster than she could react. She was sent flying back, falling onto her back as the asphalt road cracked and crumbled beneath her. She got up and charged forward with a dash through the air, her furious expression on high while Tourmaline merely ran towards her at top speed. He ducked under the protrusion of her helmet and slammed his forehead against hers while grabbing onto her broad blades on his grieves slid down the boot and sunk into the road. Tourmaline was slowly moved back as the two struggled and strained to get the advantage. Jasper grit her teeth harder as Tourmaline's nails dug into her skin and he stared into her eyes with a blank, soulless glare.

"_You think you can make a fool of me you punk? You think you're the top dog here? I'll break you in half!_" She thought.

Quickly, Tourmaline removed his right hand from Jasper's right shoulder and slammed it against her chin. She strained to keep her head from moving, as Tourmaline's pace of being shoved along the road increased. Tourmaline frowned as he strained harder to push her opponent up. Slowly, Jasper realized that she was being pushed up, and then her forehead stopped touching his. Tourmaline then removed his hand from her other shoulder to grab the protrusion on her head, still holding her somewhat still. Pushing back with all his might, he managed to stop himself. Jasper regained her composure and glared at him with a newly kindled rage.

"I...will...break...YOU!" She screamed.

Tourmaline's deadpan glare turned into a confident expression.

"Yes, that's right Jasper...NEVER SAY DIE!" Tourmaline shouted.

With that, Tourmaline yanked Jasper down to his side, and slammed his knee into her stomach. She let out a loud wheeze as the wind was knocked out of her, killing her momentum. The others saw the vicious blow as Tourmaline's knee slightly protruded through her stomach and at her back and heard the loud boom of the blow. Jasper stopped her charge and clutched her stomach in pain, not noticing Tourmaline raise his elbow up. Quickly, he slammed the elbow onto the back of her neck. Jasper felt a sharp pain shoot through her skull, and then again, and again as he continued to pound the vulnerable spot. After several blows, Tourmaline grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look up to him. Her eyes were bloodshot from the pain, and a trickle of dark red blood traveling down from the corner of her mouth. He smiled as she scowled at him. He yanked her down again, slamming his knee into her face, and then uppercutting her upwards. She was lifted up and he started punching her in the stomach over and over. Jasper grit her teeth at the pain, but managed to deliver another punch to Tourmaline's face. He went back a step and Jasper grinned at the reaction, but that grin turned to a frown of disbelief as Tourmaline looked back to her, with his own blood trickling from his mouth with a smile on his face.

"You still think of giving up?" He asked.

"Not on your worthless life." Jasper growled.

Tourmaline rolled his eyes.

"Why do I even bother?" He said to himself.

Jasper threw a punch forward, but Tourmaline grabbed her fist. She did the same with her other punch, but he grabbed the other one too. She then stopped making a fist and then wrapped her fingers between his. The two pressed their arms out as far as they could, straining to make the other move. Both yelled out as they strained to make the other budge, but neither would move in this position. The others still stared on, transfixed by the fight and still wondering who will win.

/**/

Deep within the lab, a reunion was being held. For a beaten and scarred Axinite held her only means of protection in the form of a small monitor. Feldspar had begun speaking to her "daughter", but she feared that it still wouldn't stop Pyrite from killing her. Pyrite on the other hand, was transfixed by the sound of Feldspar's voice coming from the small square thing.

"So mother...why now do you decide to bring me back, after all this time? I don't recognize this device. How long did it take to make it? A year...a decade...a millennium?" Pyrite asked.

"Pyrite, listen. I tried to bring you back home but Rose's forces attacked! I had to run, otherwise they would've captured you and possibly killed me." Feldspar explained.

"You know I wouldn't let that happen...I would've done it myself for you letting those pigs imprison me." The dark gem spat.

"I didn't have a choice! You were too violent...too uncontrollable, they were scared of you and attacked!" Feldspar justified.

Pyrite scowled at the statement.

"They fear what they can't control and subdue, which is why they tried to crush Rose." Pyrite said coldly.

"Rose's ambitions were to abandon our world for the sake of another race. She's a traitor, so don't compare yourself to her." Feldspar requested.

Pyrite growled.

"Listen, things have changed over these thousands of years. I can bring you into the Homeworld society! You can be heiled as the true warrior you are! All you need to do is crush the enemies attacking our forces." Feldspar stated.

"And what if I want to kill them?" She asked.

"Yellow Diamond has requested that we capture the gems. She wishes to put their deaths on display. As an example to the rest of the Homeworld." Feldspar answered.

Pyrite let out a loud hiss.

"Fine. Only for you, and you better keep your promise, otherwise I'll have to punish you, and the rest of your friends." Pyrite threatened.

"They aren't my friends Pyrite, but they are useful, so keep them alive and conscience. But as for the enemy, so long as their gems remain intact and unharmed...you can make them suffer as much as you want." Feldspar offered.

Pyrite grinned at the offer.

"Alright then mother. I'll make them bleed." The giant black gem said sadistically.

With that, the monitor closed, and Pyrite shifted her attention back to the frightened Axinite. She nervously smiled at the brute, and slowly backed away.

"So then...you have five targets. A red gem, a tall purple gem, two midsized blue ones, and a very small yellow one. I'll take you to the-"

Without warning, Pyrite grabbed Axinite's head and slammed it into the cave wall, shattering it and smashing Axinite's head into jelly. The lifeless body twitched and then vanished, leaving behind her orange gem. Pyrite bent over and picked up the thing, tempted to smash it and be done with it. But no, she wouldn't break the gems, she promised her mother that she would behave. Besides, she had five gems to play with to spare her boredom. She walked towards the door, with the orange gem in hand, and then punched it open.

From the outside, Benitoite looked over to see the wall next to her explode. From the dust cloud, Pyrite stepped out and looked down on the small, pained gem. She walked over to her and picked her up by the head. Benitoite stared into her demonic eyes, terrified for her life. She heard rumors about Pyrite but they all paled in comparison. She was a monster.

"I...I'm working with Feldspar, your mother." She said in vain.

Pyrite looked her up and down, and then dropped her.

"Too small...not midsized. Where are the blue gems?" Pyrite asked.

Benitoite pointed towards the area where her remaining allies were fighting, and Pyrite looked in that direction. She tossed Benitoite Axinite's gemstone, and started walking off. Benitoite realized what was in her lap and looked back to Pyrite.

"Wha...What did you do to her!?" She called out.

Pyrite stopped for a second and looked back with an insane grin.

"I said good morning." She answered.

The black gem continued walking down and Benitoite froze in fear. She wanted to meet up and see how her allies were doing, but she dared not get in Pyrite's way.

Back at the other part of the kindergarten, Sphene just got knocked down by a kick from Tanza, and Heliodor did her best to dodge Taz's barrage of rocks. The two stood together, side by side while Ruby and her friends stood together, confident in their chance of winning. The two painfully got up, covered in cuts and welts, panting as they stared the other gems down.

"Any ideas?" Sphene whispered to Heliodor.

"Just one." She responded.

With a few taps on her monitor behind her back, a distress signal was sent to their ship. A group of Pearls were alerted and came running. A squadron of thirty came out of the ship, running across the kindergarten's walls from behind the others. Sapphire looked behind them to see the reinforcements arrive. The Pearls gracefully jumped over the others and landed behind Sphene and Heliodor, standing above a field of rubble. Heliodor laughed at the shift in odds, and pointed forward.

"Break them down and bring their gemstones to us!" She confidently yelled.

The Pearl's eyes went red, and then there was a flash of black. In the next second, the rubble behind them was gone and so were the Pearls. Heliodor and Sphene froze in place from the sound of the mighty blast, while the other gems stood their ground, confused by the sudden explosion. Slowly, the two Homeworld gems turned around, and from the dust, they saw Pyrite walking with half of a Pearl's torso in her hand. She hoisted the thing up by her head and then with her iron grip, crushed the doll's skull with her gauntlet. Sphene felt a terror she hadn't felt in a long time. True terror that only she could produce.

"A red gem, two blue ones, a tall purple one, and a small yellow one. All of my targets are here. I would ask for your names, but I've slaughtered so many victims, it becomes a hassle to remember them all." Pyrite boasted.

"So then, Homeworld guys, is this your secret weapon?" Ruby asked.

"No...that's a walking nightmare." Sphene admitted.

Pyrite grinned.

"Flattery will get you no where. But since I've been cooped up for so long, I have been dying to have a new fight, and I have a nice variety right here!".

Pyrite put her hands to her sides, and opened her clenched fists. Two balls of black energy formed, and a ripple of force erupted from them. She tossed the two balls of energy at the walls of the deep canyon, and the two exploded in a massive array of destruction. The massive walls fell down in a gargantuan pile of rubble. The others stared on in terror at her sheer, awesome power.

"Okay, she's a bit stronger than the other gems, but no worries...we got this." Ruby stated.

"She's going to kill us. She's going to start with us, and then end with all of you." Heliodor stated.

With that, Pyrite started walking towards the gems. She walked in between the two yellow gems and stopped a bit after finally noticing Sphene. She glanced back at the massive gem, who she dwarfed by a small margin.

"I remember your face. I remember you and another one, with many pearls. But I don't remember you being...this weak." Pyrite commented.

Sphene glanced back at the wicked gem's stare.

"Were you able to rest easy after I left? You could just rest into lethargy knowing that your ultimate threat was destroyed? Well, I'm back now...and I refuse to leave." Pyrite said menacingly.

With that, she continued her walk towards Ruby and the others. Sphene turned around all the way.

"What...why are you not fighting us!?" She asked.

Pyrite glanced back again.

"You're not my concern. Mother told me to break these maggots." Pyrite stated.

Sphene clammed up after hearing this.

"_Bless you Feldspar._" She thought.

Pyrite stood between the Homeworld gems and Ruby's gang, analyzing each opponent, looking at locations of each of their gems so she knows where not to hit. She could tell for every one of them except Ruby. She started to get frustrated, trying desperately to figure out where her gem is. Ruby stood her ground got ready to fight again, as she assumed Pyrite was going to go for her first.

"Everyone, stand together and get ready for the fight of your lives. This opponent is the only thing standing between us and deactivation of the kindergarten. If we beat her here, we pretty much save Ea-"

Pyrite charged in quickly, crouching down with a sadistic grin on her face. Ruby only saw her face for a second before she felt the worst pain in her life. Deep in her stomach was Pyrite's spiked fist, wrenching away at her innards. She bent over and coughed up a large splatter of blood over Pyrite's arm as the others stared in terror and disbelief. Pyrite looked down Ruby's back to see her two gems at her shoulder blades.

"Oh...there are your gems." Pyrite said lazily.

Ruby screamed as she felt Pyrite open her hand inside of her, moving more flesh out of the way. Tanzanite, Tanza, Taz and Sapphire roared out as they thrust their weapons forward. Tanzanite hit her cheek, Tanza kicked her ribs, Taz slammed a rock on her head and Sapphire stabbed at her stomach. But instead of sinking deep into soft flesh and showing the slightest sign of pain, their attacks were halted by a thick skin. Pyrite's smile faded into a serious scowl. Her cheek bled slightly as Ruby started to twitch and tremble in her arm. She slowly looked over to Tanzanite.

"Even with all of your might and rage, all it amounts to is a few tiny cuts to me. Such weakness...it's disgusting." Pyrite said in a wrathful tone.

With that last word, an explosion burst from Ruby, blowing up most of her back, her stomach and her pelvis. The others stared at the grizzly display, helpless to stop their friend from being blown away...and knowing that they have no chance at stopping her from taking them next.

/**/

Tourmaline and Jasper were exchanging punch after punch, kick after kick, trying desperately to take the other down. Still intrigued by the fight, the gems watched on, hoping that their giant orange friend could take the young boy down. The crystal gems, weapons still drawn, kept a close eye on the Homeworld gems. Tourmaline leapt up and delivered a spin kick while Jasper punched for his head, instead connecting with his stomach. Jasper felt the blade sink into her cheek, and then the force of the kick, as Tourmaline just felt the force of the punch. Both were sent flying back in differing directions, but after a few seconds, managed to get back up.

"Damn it you orange jerk, you're hard to put down." Tourmaline complimented.

"Yeah...same for you." Jasper commented, "I'm actually starting to enjoy myself a bit.".

Suddenly, the two of them heard a loud, painful scream. Both turned to the gems to see Pearl kneeling over with a knife in her back. Tourmaline's attention shifted from Pearl to Feldspar, who obviously had thrown it. He felt a sickness boil in his stomach.

"We've wasted enough time playing around. Capture the crystal gems and let's go to the kindergarten." Feldspar ordered.

Tourmaline let out a roar of rage and ran towards Feldspar. He nearly reached her, only to be tackled down by Jasper. She pinned him on his front, holding his shoulder down with one hand and his head in the other.

"Let's watch this together." She in a twisted tone.

Fluorite summoned her jaws and jumped onto Garnet. The great gem, struggled with the strong, buff monster from taking a bite out of her, was so distracted by the threat in front of her, she didn't notice Iolite circling behind her. The violet gem drew her weapon from her chest, a guando with a large, purple sash. The sash wrapped itself around Garnet and released a violent shock. Garnet groaned and seethed with pain, her strength slowly leaving her as Fluorite got closer to her neck. Iolite spun the spear itself in a circle before shoving it into Garnet's back. The thing came out through her chest and in that moment of pain, Fluorite came in for the kill, clamping her jaws around Garnet's neck. Her shades fell off of her face, to reveal her scared, pained expression. Tourmaline grit his teeth with the boiling anger, but Jasper still managed to make him watch the continuing slaughter.

Black Pearl moved swiftly towards Amethyst. She sent all six of her remaining legs out, four stabbing forward and two back towards her gem. Amethyst leaped back, swinging her two whips around Black Pearl, managing to wrangle up her legs. Black Pearl merely smirked at the gesture and from her web, she had two strands of thick webbing.

"Amethyst watch-" Tourmaline tried to shout, only to have his head slammed against the asphalt by Jasper.

"Shut it! They didn't interrupt our fight, so why should we interrupt theirs?" Jasper asked.

Blood trickled from Tourmaline's head wound as he watched, helpless. Amethyst was about to crack her whips downwards, sending a wave of energy towards Black Pearl, but the sly gem threw her webbing onto Amethyst's arms, nearly immobilizing them. She touched the gems and then plucked at them quickly, the vibrations sending a rush of her own energy. Amethyst felt a sharp pain in her arms, like the webbing wrapped around them just shot in a thousand needles. The black gem then pulled the small purple gem in by said threads and sent her flying straight into her spare legs. Amethyst was impaled on the four legs, now twitching and in pain. Black Pearl gently touched Amethyst's face, and then quickly snapped her neck. The purple gem disappeared and left her stone behind. Meanwhile, Garnet finally poofed away after suffering all this time. Steven, horrified at what happened to his friends, looked over to Pearl, who was slowly getting up. The miserable gem looked over to Steven with a sympathetic gaze.

"Steven...run." She begged.

Suddenly, Feldspar came in and stomped on the knife in Pearl's back. She grit her teeth as the pain from her back spread throughout her body. She felt everything go numb, like she had been poisoned. Feldspar crouched down next to her and twisted the knife quickly. Pearl let out a yelp of pain, and then she vanished. Tourmaline screamed out in anger, much to Jasper's delight. She reached around her back for her spare destabilizer, and with a flick of her wrist, it was active. She thrust the thing down onto Tourmaline's back and there was an intense flash of light. Jasper got off of Tourmaline to watch the familiar yellow cracks form on his body. She grinned to herself, but then that grin turned to a look of shock as Tourmaline got up. He was straining every single bit of his form, but he used his regeneration to try to counteract the violent force of the gem destabilizer. He stumbled over to the other Homeworld gems, all as equally surprised at this spectacle. Black Pearl was the first to snap out of it and walk towards him. She let all of her legs extend again, and she shot them straight forward at Tourmaline, all of them impaling his torso. Tourmaline grit his teeth to the point of them nearly cracking, as the pain only added to the insane level of suffering he was going through.

"Just die." She ordered.

Her calm expression turned back into one of terror though, as Tourmaline pressed through the legs, sending them deeper into him. They were nearly face to face, when Tourmaline slugged Black Pearl with his right arm. The spider-like gem was sent flying down, her legs violently yanking themselves out of him. She painfully got up, her mouth leaking a bit of purple blood, only to see Tourmaline twitch and tremble as the holes in his chest began to spill with blood. He roared out to motivate himself to move, only for it to be cut off by Feldspar driving her knife into Tourmaline's head. He was silent, and then he slowly fell to his knees.

"You're mine now." Feldspar said coldly.

Tourmaline's body vanished, leaving behind his two gemstones. Steven was terrified. He wanted to run, but he couldn't leave his friends behind. Suddenly, Jasper towered over the boy. She grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up.

"And here we have Rose. The final piece of our victory." Jasper declared.

The others looked over at the giant gem holding the scared little boy, and they all had skeptical looks on their faces. Fluorite was the only one to walk up to her.

"You sure that's Rose? Looks like one of those human brats." She stated.

Jasper turned to Fluorite.

"I'm positive! I saw her shield protect the others on my first mission. Look! It's her gemstone." Jasper said as she pointed at Steven's stomach.

Fluorite grabbed the boy away from Jasper and glared at the frightened kid. She was still very skeptical. Even if it had a gem like Rose's, it didn't exactly guarantee a match. Then she got an idea.

"Say, I think I know a way to test if she really is Rose." Fluorite declared.

Before the others could respond, Fluorite punched Steven across the face, knocking the boy out. She then wound up a throw, and tossed the unconscious boy into the ocean as far as she could. She stood proudly of her shot as Steven splashed into the ocean's depths. Jasper stomped up to Fluorite and picked her up by her shirt.

"What the hell did you do!? We had her right there!" Jasper yelled.

"I doubt that was her Jasper. And if it is, no swim is going to kill her." The red gem explained.

Feldspar cut between the two of them.

"Let it be Jasper, this is no major setback. We have all of Earth's remaining gems, and we have successfully gained Pyrite's trust back. We can hunt Rose Quartz down at our leisure. For now, let's regroup with the party at the kindergarten. I'd rather not keep my daughter waiting." Feldspar ordered.

Black Pearl picked up Pearl and Amethyst's gemstones while Jasper grabbed Garnet's and Feldspar took Tourmaline's slabs. The Homeworld gems walked back to their ship with their trophies, ready to watch the world burn.

Steven felt wet and cold all around him. His eyes were cloudy from the stinging salt water. He couldn't move his body, it hurt too much. He felt like he was going to cry. His friends are all gone, the world is doomed, and on top of it all, he was about to drown at the bottom of the ocean. Every bit of hope that was once there was now gone. He closed his eyes and started to drift off. Suddenly, he felt the water around him move away, like he was put in a giant bubble of air. He then felt someone embracing him from behind, holding him tightly like a child would hold a teddy bear. He slowly looked over his shoulder to see the outline of a familiar person from a long time ago...but his eyes grew heavy, and he couldn't stay awake in this nightmare anymore.

To Be Continued...


	27. Chapter 27: Cruelty vs Heart part 2

Polished Gems Chapter 27: Cruelty vs Heart Part 2

Steven felt cold. He shivered against the sand under the starry night sky. He then felt a hand on his face. He tried to open his eyes, but he could only slightly open them. He was able to make out the blurry outline of the shape of a small girl. Suddenly, a field of pink walked in front of him. He felt himself being picked up by the shirt and then carefully tossed into a blanket of warm, softness. He heaved a sigh, and the coldness that spread throughout his body vanished. He opened his eyes more, and painfully rose up. He looked down to see he was on top of lion's fluffy pink mane. He then looked to his side to see the concerned look of a small, blue gem.

"Oh thank goodness...you're okay." She said, choking up a bit.

Steven shook his head and looked back at the blue gem, and realized it was Lapis Lazuli. Steven beamed at the sight of her. He carefully got off of Lion and hugged the blue gem, and she hugged him back. Steven, remembering his friends, quickly let go of Lapis and stared at her with a concerned expression.

"Lapis! Did you save my friends too?" The boy asked.

Lapis shook her head with a melancholy frown.

"I could only save you. If I went after the others, then we would all be captured. I'm sorry." She explained.

Steven grabbed his hair in frustration, thinking about their situation. His poor friends were locked up in prison, far away from here, all the way in...the kindergarten. Realizing this, he turned over to Lapis.

"Lapis! You gotta take me to the kindergarten! All of my friends are there, and we can save them!" He declared.

Lapis gave him a hopeless, silent stare.

"Steven...I can't. I know you think I'm strong but we'd be walking into a slaughter house. Besides the gems you've seen…" Lapis lamented as she turned away, "...I sensed something very powerful there. I'm not sure what it was, but it was terrifying. I can't risk letting you near it.".

"But you gotta! If we let the Homeworld gems do what they gotta do, they're gonna hurt my planet! They're horrible people that are going to continue doing bad things to good people! We need to stop them!" Steven declared.

Lapis let out a sigh.

"I know...but face it, it's just the two of us now. We don't have enough power to even make a dent in their forces." Lapis stated.

Steven scratched his head, thinking of all possibilities for what they could do. And then he got it. With a gasp of realization, Lapis' sad expression turned to a curious one.

"Maybe we do!" He declared.

Before Lapis could respond, Steven grabbed her by the hand and took her up the stairs. Lion stayed on the beach, content that his friend was safe. The rest was up to them. Steven burst through the front door and took Lapis to the warp pad.

"Steven, where are we going!?" Lapis asked.

Steven looked at her with a determined stare.

"To get some friends." He answered confidently.

/**/

Feldspar and the other gems were on their way to the kindergarten. They had just gotten done throwing each gem in their own cell. Tourmaline and Garnet's gems were kept separated, as to make sure fusion wouldn't occur again. She looked down over the landscape to see the second ship, nearly totaled. The gems stared on in terror as they saw the warship torn asunder, burning with green fire.

"What!? What the hell happened!?" Fluorite shouted.

Feldspar grit her teeth. She had a feeling what caused it's destruction. The ship landed in front of the destroyed one, and the gems spilled out of it, facing the destroyed thing. A black explosion erupted from one of the fingers, blasting the tip to smithereens. The gems stared in awe as a black titan walked out of the newly formed hole. She had the grin of a devil as she held five gemstones in one hand, and the now revealed beaten bodies of Heliodor and Sphene. They stared on in horror as she slowly walked up to them. She tossed the two yellow gems towards Fluorite and Jasper. The two managed to catch the somehow conscience gems, and then shifted their attention back to the mystery gem. The black gem towered over Feldspar with a wicked grin.

"Hello there mother." She greeted.

"Py...Pyrite...what did you do?" Feldspar asked.

Pyrite's smile faded into an annoyed grimace. She held her hand out to Feldspar, revealing her trophies.

"I crushed the enemy just like you wanted, but they were so weak. Fighting them was fucking boring. So I decided to make my own fun, and tearing up that strange building was the only thing I could really find that enjoyable." She explained.

Feldspar blinked and shook her head at the statement, then turning to Black Pearl.

"Black Pearl! Take these gems away and place them in cells." She ordered.

Black Pearl complied, and snatched the stones away from Pyrite. She ran back to their ship, and Feldspar turned her attention back to Pyrite.

"Pyrite...daughter. That was a ship you just destroyed. We needed that ship to haul gems back to the Homeworld. You've impeded our progress by quite a large margin." Feldspar explained.

Pyrite huffed at the statement and pointed at Feldspar's ship.

"You already have one of those. Why bother with two?" Pyrite asked.

"We might need to bring a lot back to Yellow Diamond." The ashey gem added.

"What's the hurry? I already crushed what was left of the rebellion. Besides, you're bringing Yellow Diamond what's important...me." She said maliciously.

Sphene and Heliodor stood back on their feet, staring at the massive gem with fearful eyes. Iolite glanced over at her wounded love and back to Pyrite. She felt an anger towards the selfish monster, but couldn't muster the courage to call her out on her actions. Feldspar opened her mouth to protest, but Pyrite placed a hand on her head and lightly pushed her out of the way. Feldspar stumbled to the side and watched as Pyrite walked towards the ship. Jasper glared at Pyrite with a skeptical gaze.

"_This is the all powerful Pyrite? Sure you managed to tear apart a warship and beat down some worthless gems, but I still don't get what the fear is about._" She thought to herself.

Before Pyrite made it to the ship, she turned to Fluorite. She quickly moved her hand, open with the palm flat towards the red gem, and then a ball of black energy formed. The thing went flying towards Fluorite, and then just clipped the side of her head. The ball went on to touch a rock some ten feet behind her, and the ball detonated with a massive explosion. Fluorite shaked and shivered at the near death experience while Pyrite's grin turned into a massive, wicked, toothy smile.

"I'm a bit stronger than I was the last time we fought." She commented.

With that, she turned around and jumped onto the ship. She landed with a loud thud, and growled. She grimaced at the floor and then stomped on it.

"HEY! One of you worthless fools let me into this thing!" She demanded.

Iolite shuddered, but leaped up to the ship. She faced the massive gem, and then the two of them sunk into the interior. The other gems stared at the empty space from where Pyrite once was with fear and awe. From behind the corner of the destroyed ship, Benitoite and Peridot sneaked around the corner and slowly walked up to the others.

"Is she gone?" Benitoite asked.

The others jumped at the sudden noise and then saw Benitoite and Peridot, holding Axinite's gem. Feldspar was the first to look at the orange gem.

"Pyrite...you haven't changed at all." She said to herself.

Suddenly, the gem began to glow, and shifted into the form of Axinite. The russet gem fell back down onto the ground and looked around to see that she was still alive. She then immediately turned to Feldspar.

"Keep that freak away from me!" She demanded.

"Noted." Feldspar said coldly before turning to Peridot, "Peridot, the activation process?".

"Well, all systems are up, but since the machines are so old, they're gonna take a bit longer than I estimated to activate. I'm guessing another two hours, hour and a half at least." Peridot answered.

Feldspar smiled.

"That's fine. With the crystal gems in our prison, there's no one left to stand in our way. We can continue on at our leisure." She stated.

/**/

At the desert temple, Sardonyx sat and meditated, waiting for Tourmaline to come to her with a request to return the favor he did for her. She had been somewhat restless, waiting in stasis for near months on end, but endured the loneliness. Suddenly, she heard footsteps of someone running up the stairs of the temple. She opened her eyes and turned around towards the door. She looked to see the gate slowly open, and reveal a small boy and a blue gem. She still stared at them with her dignified stare, but then recognized the boy from the day she was freed. She smiled at the familiar sight, and walked over to them. Lapis and Steven stared up at the giant gem with determined expressions.

"Well now, this is a nice sight. I remember you from the day I was freed, and you…" She said now looking at Lapis, "...I'm not sure I familiar.".

Steven rushed towards her.

"Sardonyx! There's no time! We need your help now!" Steven shouted.

Sardonyx looked down at the frantic boy, confused by his pleas.

"I'm sorry? What's happening?" She asked.

"The world is in trouble! Homeworld gems came and attacked my friends and now they're gone and they're activating the kindergarten and we're all in trouble!" Steven shouted quickly.

The giant brown gem's eyes widened with at Steven's information. Immediately she crouched down in front of him and looked him in the eyes.

"And Tourmaline...was he…?" She asked.

Steven frowned and nodded. Sardonyx scowled at the thought of her savior being in danger. She stood straight up and walked past the gems. The two gems looked at her and ran next to her.

"Wait! You can't go to the kindergarten yet!" Lapis warned.

"Why not? I'll crush each and every one of them." The furious gem declared.

"No no no! We're still outnumbered by a lot! I know some other gems that can help us! Let's get them first!" Steven declared.

Sardonyx shot an angered glance at Steven, and then looked back forward.

"Very well. Where are they?" She asked.

Steven ran ahead of the giant gem and onto the warp pad. He waved for the other two to climb on and the gems did as he instructed. In a flash of light, the trio left the desert and in the next minute, found themselves on a tropical island. Steven hopped off of the pad and ran into the foliage, the other gems following close behind him.

"Obsidian!" He called out, "Obsidian where are you!?".

Suddenly, the trees in front of Steven were smashed down. The mighty trunks fell to the side of him and he stared up at the black, pulsating form of Obsidian.

"What do you want boy?" She growled.

Steven was intimidated by her wrathful state, but Sardonyx and Lapis joined his side, and he snapped out of his fear.

"Tourmaline and the rest of my friends are in trouble! We need your help!" He declared sternly.

Obsidian's irritated look turned to one of concern.

"Tourmaline...what happened to him?" She asked.

"Homeworld gems came and they beat him down, along with the rest of my friends." Steven explained.

Obsidian gnashed her teeth in a wrathful scowl. Cinders leaked from the corners of her mouth and her red markings pulsated.

"Take me to them. Now." She seethed.

"I will but we need to get two more gems. We can split up and save some time. Sardonyx, you take Obsidian and go to my home's temple. Deep inside there's a chamber with a bunch of bubbled gems. Grab the one with two yellow ones in it and free the gem inside it. Tell him what's up and then we'll meet you back home." Steven ordered.

Sardonyx nodded and Obsidian begrudgingly agreed to his terms. He rushed back to the warp pad and so did the other gems. In an instant flash of light, they arrived back at Steven's house. Sardonyx and Obsidian walked towards the door with the star on it.

"Okay, I'm not sure if I can open the door to the temple, but I can-" Steven started.

Sardonyx's gem began to glow, and it produced a large club that had a spiral pattern swirling from the top and to the handle. With a mighty swing, she shattered the door and revealed a corridor into the temple. She entered and so did Obsidian. Steven stared at the door, dumbfounded by how forward Sardonyx was.

"Or just do that. We'll be right back." Steven stated and vanished with Lapis.

/**/

Deep in the dark forest, all was illuminated by the light of the warp pad. Lapis and Steven looked around to see if the final ally was around, but saw nothing between the trees. Lapis formed wings of water and picked up Steven. With a mighty leap, she took flight and started scanning the forest. Steven looked around, and then pointed towards a giant mountain, where the two of them noticed a figure crouching down and staring up at the starry sky near the top.

"Is that her?" Lapis asked.

"Yep!" Steven exclaimed.

Lapis swerved over and flew towards the lonely gem. Jet stared at the sky, a feeling of fear coursed through her body as she squeezed her knees tightly. She heard the sound of wings flapping and then something landing behind her. She quickly turned to see Steven and Lapis. On edge, she drew her weapon and glared at the two gems. Steven held his hands out, trying to calm the black gem down.

"Jet, stop! It's me, Steven! You know the kid that was with Tourmaline?" Steven blurted out.

Jet eased her stance and poofed her weapon away.

"Steven...are you here to make me fight?" She asked.

Steven blinked at the statement. He shook his head and looked back at her.

"How did you know I was gonna ask that?" The boy asked.

Jet grabbed her arm and looked away.

"I feel them...I feel the gems at the kindergarten. And I feel something...terrifying there. I'm sorry but I can't join you." She stated.

"Whaat?! But...but my friends are there! The world is in danger! Tourmaline is there too!" Steven shouted, "We have to do something!".

"What can we do!? It's over! That power there...it's greater than anything I've ever felt before! We're done!" Jet argued.

Lapis, done with standing idly, walked up to the scared gem and grabbed her by her dress, pulling her down to her level.

"Stop your whining! This place is your home isn't it? Then come and defend it!" Lapis shouted.

"Why? What for? This is a fight we can't win!" Jet protested.

"I can't believe how cowardly you're acting!" Lapis berated Jet as she shoved her down, "Fine then. Grovel in fear while the others fight your battles for you.".

Lapis walked to Steven to pick him up, but Steven silently declined the offer. He walked over to the downed Jet, and looked into her soft blue eyes.

"Jet...I know you're scared. I'm scared too. I almost died a little while ago, but that doesn't matter. My friends are probably a lot more scared than me right now. I want to go help them. I have to go help them. I care about them, and I care about everything on this world. But I can't do this alone. I need all the help I can get, and that includes you." Steven spoke warmly, then extending his hand out, "Please, I need your help.".

Jet stared at the boy, bewildered by his speech. She then remembered Tourmaline, and his words to her.

"_You can come with me. There are a lot of great people where I live, you don't have to be alone._" His words echoed in her mind.

That moment, that memory she held in her mind, she didn't want it to be the last memory she has of him. Her fearful expression disappeared and she took Steven's hand. She stood up and walked towards Lapis.

"Let's go." She declared.

/**/

In the depths of the temple, Obsidian and Sardonyx finally made it to the the bubble room. They searched the ceiling for the bubble Steven mentioned, and eventually found it. Sardonyx grabbed the bubble and popped it. The two yellow gems clinked onto the ground, and after a few seconds, they floated up and created a human outline out of light. The light dispersed, revealing Topaz, with the same outfit he had from his last regeneration. He smiled and looked up to the two giant ladies with his usual sadistic grin.

"Well now, this certainly is new. You friends with Tourmaline?" He asked.

"Yes, and that's the reason we took you out of the bubble. Homeworld gems have invaded and are about to activate the kindergarten." Sardonyx explained.

"Oh wow, the boy sure has his hands full this time." He joked.

"Tourmaline...was captured by them." Obsidian said sternly.

With that, Topaz's smile faded into a serious scowl.

"He was captured? Damn fool...alright, enough wasting time. Let's go." Topaz declared.

With that, Obsidian and Sardonyx turned back to the entrance to the room and ran out, with Topaz following close behind. The trio ran through the walls of the temple and eventually made it out. The light from the warp pad flashed in front of them, and revealed Steven, Lapis, and Jet.

"Okay good! You got Topaz! Now we can go to the kindergarten!" Steven exclaimed.

Topaz held his hand up to cut the others off.

"Hold it, were you planning on warping there?" Topaz asked.

Steven nodded and Topaz shook his head.

"No, no that will be the end of us. If there are any loose ends, which they may expect, the warp pad will either be heavily guarded or under surveillance. We'd be screwed from step one." He brought up.

Steven rubbed his chin and thinked.

"Well...I know how to get there by foot, but it would take a long time." Steven suggested.

"Who said we'd be going by foot?" Lapis stated as she walked to the front door.

The others followed her outside and witnessed her power. The gem on her back began to glow and she created a giant platform of water from the ocean. She brought it over to the patio and she hopped onto it. She turned to the others and waved them on. The others complied, with Sardonyx picking up Steven as they all jumped onto the platform. The platform of water then went high into the sky and started to fly over Beach City.

"So what's the plan when we make it there?" Lapis asked.

"I say Sardonyx and I start tearing the place up!" Obsidian suggested.

"That...actually might work!" Steven suggested.

Topaz turned to the young boy.

"What? Steven that's a horrible plan!" He shouted.

"By itself, yes. But if Obsidian, Sardonyx and Jet started destroying the kindergarten, it would make a great diversion for me to get to the ship and free my friends! We'll have all of our allies back and maybe out number them!" Steven explained.

"Maybe?" Sardonyx questioned.

Steven looked up at the giant brown gem.

"I don't know how many were at the kindergarten." He explained, "Any objections?".

Topaz shrugged.

"Can't really think of anything better." He stated.

"Alright then! Let's go save the world!" Steven declared.

/**/

Deep within the confines of the ship, Feldspar was walking along to meet with a very special prisoner. Passing the other gems, ignoring their vulgar threats, she eventually made it to a very familiar sight. Sitting down, with a scowl on her face, was Aquamarine, staring outside through the yellow force field. Feldspar stopped in front of her old friend, holding her hands behind her back, and the two glared at each other.

"Hello Aquamarine. It's good to see that you regenerated with no abnormalities." Feldspar commented.

"Cut the crap Feldspar, why are you here? Here to taunt me and say how foolish I was to leave the Homeworld?" Aquamarine barked.

Feldspar shook her head.

"Oh no, nothing of the sort. Honestly I don't blame you for leaving that miserable rock. I'm just here to make sure that I get what belongs to me." She declared.

The blue gem rose to her feet and glared at the ashy gem with the ferocity only a protective mother could muster.

"Tourmaline is not your property! He's his own person, and a great one at that! I won't let you corrupt him and turn him into a monster like Pyrite!" She protested.

The gem tapped a few keys next to the cell and the forcefield disappeared. Before Aquamarine could respond, she felt something sharp pierce her stomach. She looked down to see a syringe filled with a black liquid inside. Feldspar pushed the plunger, and the liquid shot into Aquamarine's stomach. She attempted to pull her weapon out, but stopped midway when a sharp pain suddenly appeared in her stomach. She held her stomach and fell back as the poison Feldspar injected her with started to take hold. She opened an eye to see Feldspar's cruel stare.

"Your compliance isn't a factor Aquamarine. And now that the chemical is freely coursing through your body, neither is his." Feldspar explained as she reactivated the forcefield.

With that, Feldspar started to walk away, only to stop when she heard Aquamarine call to her.

"Feldspar!" She shouted.

Feldspar turned her head to look at the gem in pain.

"When I get out of here, and I catch you...you're going to die." She threatened.

"Hmph." The ashy gem sounded.

With that, Feldspar walked away and left Aquamarine to writhe in pain.

"_Two trophies in the bag. Soon, everything will go in my favor._" She thought to herself.

She turned to the chamber with the pearls, and the mindless soldiers all stared at her.

"Stay outside and watch the machines. Make sure no one comes in and causes trouble." She ordered.

The pearls nodded and rushed out of the ship. Feldspar frowned to herself.

"_Rose...you'll be the first to go._" She thought to herself.

/**/

Steven and the group of gems eventually made it to the opening of the kindergarten. Lapis lowered the platform near the entrance and let the others off. She started to float up and go back the way she came. Steven and the others looked up at the blue gem with mild confusion.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Obsidian asked.

"I'm going back to the ocean to get more water. By the time I get back, I doubt I'll be spotted. Good luck and be careful!" Lapis wished to her allies.

Steven waved goodbye, and Lapis zoomed off. The gems then turned to the entrance and started running in, ready to rescue their friends. Obsidian, Jet and Sardonyx took the right wall of canyon, hiding behind rocks as to not lose the element of surprise, while Topaz took Steven along the opposite way. The two groups made it to the mouth of the entrance where they saw the remains of the first warship. The gems marveled at it for a second, and then started dashing around forward from debris to debris. They peeked over to see the giant phage like machines starting to whirl and rumble, ready to activate very soon, and then noticed the forty pearls patrolling the area. Behind them all, laid the second ship, and presumably all their allies.

"Seems we have quite the challenge ahead of us." Sardonyx whispered, "We'll have to make it quick to clear a path so Steven and Topaz can get through.".

Jet started to release a torrent of fog as quietly as she could from her mouth. The fog rolled in, and confused the pearls, their simple minds not able to comprehend the strange phenomenon. The three gems summoned their weapons and gathered up their strength.

"It's so quiet...how about we make some noise?" Obsidian suggested.

Five pearls gathered around in a circle to view the strange fog. They tried to think of a reason for the sudden weather change, when suddenly they noticed a bright light coming forth from the fog. In the next second, they were roasted by a wall of flames. Obsidian walked in with her hammer held over her shoulder, and flames dripping from her mouth. Four pearls rushed her from her side, but were then sliced in half by Jet. Jet glided across the ground like a ghost, slithering towards the pearls from the back. One of them managed to notice her, and swung it's destabilizer at her. Jet countered with a swing from her sword, and it's acid melted the device on impact. And then it completely disintegrated the pearl with one swing. A cluster of ten rushed forward as Obsidian was currently busy swatting other ones away. They got very close to her, only to be impaled by a series of stalagmites from the ground. The series of spikes came from a large crack in the ground, produced by a swing from Sardonyx's club.

"_How long has it been...since I could go all out in my own body?_" She wondered to herself.

With her other hand, she thrust it into the ground and pulled out a massive chunk of rock. She threw the rock at the impaled pearls, crushing them all. Meanwhile, Topaz was running around the fight with Steven under his arm. He made it to the ship undetected, and leapt onto the top of it. He then jumped onto one of the hand's massive fingers and looked down at the palm.

"You certain that they'll come out somewhere around here?" He asked.

"Yeah! They did last time! So we should probably get closer-" Steven started.

Suddenly, a series of holes appeared in the palm, and up came the Homeworld gems, with the exception of Feldspar, Peridot, and Pyrite. Topaz quickly leaped down from the finger and dived down like a bullet. Steven clenched his teeth to keep from making a noise, and the two slid right behind Iolite and went into the ship. Topaz dashed out of the hole's viewing point as Iolite turned behind her. She failed to see the gems sneak in, so she shrugged off the strange feeling and turned back to the matter at hand. Steven looked at Topaz, stunned by the impressive skill.

"How did you do that!?" Steven asked.

Topaz smirked.

"Stealth has always been my specialty. I could run across a room of cracking glass and not make a sound." Topaz boasted, "But enough about me, let's get to your friends!".

Outside of the ship, the fog started to clear from the intensity of the attacks and revealed the fighting gems. They noticed the lack of fog and their new opponents staring down at them. The Homeworld gems leapt down and stared the Earth gems down. Heliodor grinned and waved the pearls off.

"Move it you worthless slag, you're in the way." She hissed.

The pearls did as the yellow gem said and ran back to the ship. Iolite looked to Sphene and Heliodor with concerned glances.

"You sure you want to fight? You still have a few wounds left." She stated.

"Just a few scratches and bruises, nothing big." Sphene stated.

Jasper stepped forward and grinned at the three gems.

"So there's more of you worthless rats here. And here I thought the fun ended with the crystal gems." She commented.

Obsidian tightened her grip on her hammer, Jet's eyes started to glow a ghostly blue, and Sardonyx's muscles began to bulge and pump up.

"Don't loop us in with them. We're not here to beat you, we're here to kill you." Obsidian growled.

The homeworld gems summoned their weapons and glared at their opponents.

"Good luck with that. Eight to three are some pretty bad odds." Axinite taunted.

Sardonyx stomped down and the rock under her cracked and crumbled.

"Oh don't worry, we'll knock a few off to make it more fair." She boasted.

/**/

Within the confines of the ship, Steven and Topaz dashed through the hallways to find any prison cells they could. Steven thought he heard someone, so he pointed Topaz in the location of the noise. The pale gem sprinted down in that direction and eventually they saw yellow forcefields, their contents still not present. The two ran up to them, only to stop midway when they saw two more gems coming around the corner. They were arguing, so quickly Topaz ducked into another hallway, hiding behind a corner with Steven close to him, as to make sure the boy doesn't give away their location.

"What does it matter if you think it's enough for the others to handle!? If you just jump in and fight them now, it'll be over in an instant!" Feldspar argued.

"And that's the point. Where's the fun in that? I'll let the others handle the pests." Pyrite stated.

"This isn't supposed to be a game Pyrite, this is important work!" Feldspar shouted.

"And that's why I'll do you the honor of overseeing this little skirmish. It may not be as fun as participation, but at least the entertainment will last longer." The titanic black gem stated.

The two walked by the hallway opening, still arguing, and Topaz peeked out to see the giant form of Pyrite. The very sight of her sent shivers down his spine. But he managed to avoid detection, and in a few seconds they would be gone. Those few seconds lasted an eternity, but the remaining gems eventually left, and Topaz quickly rushed out with Steven towards the chambers. They looked into the first one and saw Pearl, leaning against the wall and huddled up. She looked over and to her surprise, she saw Steven, pressing his frame into the forcefield and holding a hole open for her. She quickly crawled out and as soon as Steven stepped out of the forcefield, she hugged the boy as tightly as she could.

"Oh Steven! I was so worried that you were hurt, or dead, or...or" Pearl stammered.

"Pearl, it's okay! But we don't have time for this!" Steven declared as she pushed Pearl off of him, "Our other friends are out there fighting against a bunch of Homeworld gems and need help!".

"Hey is that Steven!?" Amethyst's voice called out.

Steven turned to the other chamber and saw the eager expression of Amethyst. Quickly, the boy rushed to the forcefield of the cell and made a hole for Amethyst to escape out of. Pearl summoned her spear and Amethyst summoned her whip. Before they could charge out, Topaz stopped them.

"Wait! I know that you have to get out asap, but there was this gem...she felt incredibly powerful. Let Steven get everyone else out and go out as a group." He said.

Pearl and Amethyst groaned impatiently as Steven let Sapphire out of her cell, her claws already drawn. In a matter of seconds, the rest of the gems were freed, with the exception of Garnet and Tourmaline. Ruby drew her swords and grinned. They immediately rushed to find the exit, with Steven waving them out. He then turned to Topaz.

"Okay! Let's find Garnet and Tourmaline!" He declared.

Topaz nodded, then picking the boy up and running deeper into the ship.

/**/

Outside, Obsidian had just been sent flying into a boulder. She fell on her knee, her face bleeding and covered in cuts as she faced Japser, Fluorite and Iolite. They grinned maliciously as they all charged forward. Obsidian let a torrent of flames escape from her mouth and towards her enemies. Heliodor and Iolite leaped away from the flames, but Jasper charged through, ignoring the fire's scorching heat. She was about to slam her head into Obsidian's head, but the massive gem slammed the staff of her hammer into Jasper's chest, knocking her down with the giant gem mounting her. Quickly, she inhaled and released another attack directly at Jasper's face. Jasper winced in pain as her face started to burn. From her sides, Iolite and Heliodor charged in. Noticing the two gems come for her, Obsidian leaped back and avoided the attacks. She grinned, but it was cut short as she felt something hit her back. She stepped forward from the impact, and Jasper charged forward, slamming into the black gem. Obsidian went flying into the walls of the kindergarten as Benitoite looked on from above, proud of her shot.

"_None of you Earth gems are going to leave here in tact._" She thought.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jet rushing up the wall and towards her, with Fluorite charging after her. The blue gem ran from her place and started firing at Jet, but the small dark gem dodged the attacks and a stray shot managed to hit Fluorite. The muscular red gem was staggered, but recovered and continued to charge after Jet. Jet turned around and let out a torrent of black fog. Fluorite coughed and wheezed in the giant thing, and felt like her skin was melting, but she managed to jump out of it, though she fell off the wall. Benitoite placed her two crossbows together and they clicked and transformed, forming a large X-bow. She fired a massive bolt at the wall and the blast erupted into a giant bush of icy spikes. Jet jumped away from the blast itself, but the spikes managed to cut her up quite a bit, causing blue blood to spill out. She fell down to the ground and Fluorite dashed under her, ready to catch her in her jaws. Jet noticed the ravenous gem awaiting her, and swung her sword down, unleashing a splash of acid. Fluorite noticed the attack and leaped away, watching as the acid splashed down and dissolved the very rock she once stood on. Jet fell on her knees, and looked back over to Benitoite, who was loading up another shot.

"_Come on Steven! Give us some back up!_" She prayed.

Meanwhile, Sardonyx clashed with Sphene, while Black Pearl readied a thick thread and Axinite readied her chain. Sardonyx pressed against the equally large Sphene's frame, as Sphene grinned deviously.

"_That's right big girl, eyes on me…_" She gleefully thought to herself.

Axinite and Black Pearl threw their lashes at Sardonyx, but the giant gem headbutted Sphene, and quickly turned around with her hand open. The two Homeworld gems were stunned to see the massive gem react in time to grab both of their weapons. She continued moving and brought the other gems with her, then slamming them into a boulder. She felt a sharp pain in her back as Sphene slammed her with her spikey mace. Sardonyx fell forward, her back now bleeding from the attack. She quickly got up and gripped her club tightly. From above, standing on top of the hand's middle finger, Feldspar and Pyrite watched.

"You see? They struggle in vain. Sooner or later your weakling allies will take them all down." Pyrite commented.

Feldspar was silent as she continued to stare down at the battle. Obsidian was knocked back again, but this time, she could only kneel down, as the damage started to take it's toll. Jasper grinned as her and Heliodor &amp; Iolite rushed forward, with their gem destabilizers in hand. Obsidian painfully got up and got ready for her final attack. But suddenly, the Homeworld gems fell down with pained groans, as three mystery gems dropped down and attacked each one of them. The gems revealed themselves to be Ruby, Sapphire and Amethyst. Quickly, they grabbed the gem destabilizers from the enemy and destroyed them, then leaping in front of Obsidian to protect her. Obsidian grinned at the sight of her back up.

"Bout time you guys got your butts in gear and joined the fray." Obsidian chuckled.

"We had a rough time finding our way out. Bunch of pearls blocked our path." She explained.

"Not much of an excuse." The giant black gem stated, "Red one, go help the others. I can handle the orange one.".

Ruby looked back at Obsidian's confident smile and nodded to her, then rushing over to Sardonyx. Benitoite scowled at the sight and took aim at her, but then a purple blur came up the wall and slammed her right in the stomach. She flew backwards and then straight down to the ground. Tanza skated down the wall and chased after her opponent, while Jet battled Fluorite. Sardonyx struggled against the three opponents, but then Black Pearl was blown away by a blast of energy, and Axinite turned around and quickly dodged out of the way of a slash at her back. The two turned to see Pearl and Ruby, staring Black Pearl and Axinite down. Sphene and Sardonyx stared at the two with opposite emotions. Before Sphene could act, Sardonyx slammed her stomach with her club and launched her back. The giant brown gem then turned back to her new allies.

"I recognize you from the day I was freed! Where are your other allies?" She asked.

"Tanzanite and Taz are in the ship holding off the remaining grunts and destroying their backup weapons!" Pearl explained, "Besides, we have all the power we need to end this here!".

From above, Feldspar's intrigued stare turned into a furious glare.

"Inconceivable! How did they all get free!? Regardless, it doesn't matter how many more they get now. Pyrite, attack!" She shouted.

Pyrite ignored the order and continued watching the fight. Feldspar turned to her daughter to yell at her once more, but was stunned into silence by the gleefully demonic expression on the giant gem's face.

"Interesting." She growled.

/**/

Deeper inside the hand, Topaz and Steven eventually found two more prison cells. Inside the first one was a small red gem who looked to be in serious pain. Steven walked over and recognized her as Garnet's other half, Ruby. Steven pressed into the forcefield and opened a hole for her. The red gem glared over at Steven, then shrinking her wrathful stare to one of hope. She rolled out of the hole. Steven stepped out of the field and turned to the small red gem.

"Steven! Did you find Sapphire as well?" She asked.

"If you're referring to the blue gem with the snow white hair, she is currently out and fighting with her friends." Topaz explained.

Ruby glared at the pale gem.

"Not her! The other Sapphire! My Sapphire!" Ruby shouted.

Topaz raised an eyebrow at the statement, but it was quickly replaced with a concerned expression when he heard a loud groan of pain coming from the cell next to them. Steven ran over to it to see another blue gem, on the ground and tightly squeezing her stomach with a pained expression on her face.

"Who's this?" Topaz asked.

"I think that's Tourmaline's mom." Steven suggested.

Steven stepped through the forcefield and walked over to the pained gem. Aquamarine shot her hand out in protest.

"Don't! I can't...I can't leave here." She stated.

"But, you gotta! We need your help!" Steven argued.

Aquamarine painfully looked up at the young boy, a black vein forming right at her neck.

"Don't you see? I can't...Feldspar poisoned me. If I fuse back with Jade and bring Tourmaline back...he'll be hers to control." Aquamarine solemnly explained, "I have to bear this pain.".

Steven frowned at the pained gem, but shook his head and regained his determined stare. He walked over to Aqua's side and looked at a large, black ulcer that formed at her stomach. Steven carefully moved her hand away, and then looked at both of his hands. He took a big lick of both of them, and brought his drool covered hands to the wound. Aqua's pained groans stopped, and she had a calm look on her face. She rolled over on her back, and her body began to glow. The black veins in her body had vanished, and the ulcer shriveled up and disappeared. Topaz and Ruby stared on in awe. The light faded, and Aquamarine sat up. She looked down at her stomach and then over to Steven, who was confidently smiling.

"That power...it's Roses'." She uttered.

"Well she is my mom." Steven bragged.

Aquamarine blinked at the statement as Steven walked over to the forcefield. He stepped into it and held his arm out, making an exit for Aquamarine. She nodded at the boy with a grin and quickly crawled through the floor. She stood up and started looking around as Steven stepped out of the force field. Ruby could hear something. It was faint, but it was unmistakable. She could hear someone singing. Ruby rushed forward and others ran after her.

"Ruby! Can you hear Sapphire calling out to you?" Steven asked.

"Yes! I can hear her! I can find her!" She declared.

As they ran down the hall, a group of pearls came to intercept them. Ruby grit her teeth, and Topaz dashed in front, drawing his sai and getting ready to fight. But suddenly, all the pearls stopped moving and were thrown against the two walls. The others stared in surprise at this strange sight, but then Steven beamed when he saw Taz on the other side of them.

"Taz!" He exclaimed.

"Forget the greetings! Go get to the others, they're just ahead!" She shouted.

The gems ran past the little girl, with Topaz shooting one glance at her before facing forward. Taz flung the pearls down, and a few dropped their destabilizers. Taz grabbed four of them with her mind and got ready to fight. Behind her, Tanzanite walked in a bit bruised up and injured, but holding her sword in one hand, and Peridot's gem in the other. She glared at the enemy beginning to rise up.

"These things have the last of the destabilizers?" She asked.

Taz nodded.

"Alright then. You take the ten on the left...I'll take the ten on the right." Tanzanite suggested.

"Forget that I'll take eleven." Taz said confidently.

"That's the spirit!" The blue gem declared.

The group rushed forward, and the singing Ruby spoke of became more and more clear. Eventually, they made it to two cells, one with Sapphire standing calmly, and the other a raging inferno of green fire. Steven and Ruby rushed over to Sapphire, who stopped singing at the sight of her love, and Aquamarine ran to the flaming cell.

"Sapphire! Are you okay!?" Ruby called out.

"I'm fine! Are you okay!?" Sapphire called back.

"That doesn't matter!" The red gem shouted.

Steven let Sapphire out and she immediately ran to Ruby. The two hugged and exchanged a kiss, before Ruby and Sapphire started to glow. Ruby started to twirl Sapphire around and the two lights grew brighter. They started to laugh as their euphoric feelings became one, and so did their lights. The two lights danced together and formed Garnet, who was laughing as well. She moved over to Steven and immediately hugged her.

"That's twice you brought us back together. You're incredible Steven." She stated.

Steven hugger her back, happy to have her family with him once again, but quickly remembered Jade. Garnet put him down and he ran over to the flaming cell, though the flames started to fade away.

"Jade...it's me." Aquamarine stated, with tears starting to flow down her face.

The flames parted, and revealed Jade. Standing steadfast and looking into the eyes of his wife. The two felt like they could stay like this for eternity, but their focus dropped at the sound of Steven opening a hole for Jade. The large gem quickly wriggled through the hole and stood up in front of his wife. With no words, he hugged her as tightly as he could. The smaller, ocean blue gem held him back, remembering the times he left her safe in his arms. She looked up to his face and he smiled down at her.

"Stay here okay? I'm going out to end this fight." He declared.

"No Jade...it's not your fight, it's Tourmaline's." She argued.

Jade raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"But...he's still a boy...I know he's strong but he-"

"He's not just a boy!" Aquamarine shouted, "He's our son...and you know better than anyone that he is capable of anything.".

Jade stared at his wife, perplexed by her warm words. But he gave her an assuring smile.

"You're right...he can beat them." He agreed.

The two held each other tightly, and they started to glow brightly. The lights melded together, and the two parent's gems shifted into the familiar green slabs they all saw before. From that light, it took the form of the boy, and dissipated. The light was gone and revealed Tourmaline, though with a new wardrobe. He wore an ocean blue jacket with a yellow star on the back, his torn jeans now jean-like shorts. He turned around and wore his usual orange tank top, and a determined expression on his face. Garnet and the others smiled at the boy. Tourmaline turned his attention to Topaz. The two exchanged one stare, and Tourmaline walked over to a wall right of them. Steven looked at Tourmaline with confusion.

"Uh, Tourmaline? The exit's all the way back there." Steven said as he pointed to the hallway.

"I'm making us an exit." Tourmaline declared.

With that, he assumed his fighting stance and summoned his grieves. His legs started to glow, and with one kick he released an explosion of green energy.

/**/

Feldspar continued to yell at Pyrite, as the tide of battle slowly shifted towards the Earth gems favor.

"Pyrite! We've watched enough! Our forces are going to lose if this keeps up and if you don't get off your ass and do something!" She shouted.

Pyrite scowled and got up on her feet, summoning her cestus.

"If it will make you shut up, fine." She begrudgingly agreed.

The titanic gem held her hand out and pointed at the battle, the small silver ball in her palm had a field of black growing around it. Feldspar looked at her daughter with a newly kindled sense of dread.

"W-wait! Our troops are still down there!" She pointed out.

Pyrite grinned.

"Collateral damage." She said sadistically.

Pyrite was about to fire the ball of energy at the unsuspecting crowd when suddenly, she heard a loud explosion and felt a rumble shake throughout the hand. She lowered her hand and sternly looked down. The other gems turned around towards the hand to see a giant hole had been blasted in it from the inside. From the smoking hole, out walked Garnet, Tourmaline, Topaz, Steven, Taz and Tanzanite. The Earth gems beamed at the sight of their friends, with the exception of Obsidian, who could only muster up a grin considering her condition. Tourmaline scanned over the battlefield and saw Jasper and Obsidian, with the tall black and red gem wounded. He grabbed Steven and Taz and the group leaped over in between them. Jasper wrathfully stared at the gems, who grinned at her in response. Tourmaline let Steven and Taz down and looked down at them.

"Steven, heal Obsidian, then take Taz and hide away. I don't want either of you to get hurt." Tourmaline requested.

Steven nodded and ran towards the large gem, licking his hands and getting ready to heal her, with Taz following behind him. Tourmaline, Garnet, Topaz and Tanzanite stood their ground against the orange gem.

"Why can't you fools just quit!?" Jasper shouted.

Garnet laughed and then looked back to Jasper.

"Because we're stronger than you." Garnet stated.

Jasper growled at the statement, her scowl intensifying when suddenly she felt something huge land behind her. She froze in fear as the ground beneath her began to crack and crumble and the sound of crushing rock filled the air. She slowly looked over to see the grinning face of Pyrite.

"Move." She growled.

Before Jasper could respond, Pyrite swung one of her mighty fists at Jasper's head, sending the orange gem flying into one of the giant machine's legs, tearing it away and causing it fall over. As the giant thing fell, Tourmaline and his friends stared down the massive gem with stern expressions.

"You three move. I want the boy." Pyrite ordered as she opened her palms.

Two balls of black and silver energy came flying out, slamming Tanzanite in the stomach and sending her flying, while Garnet summoned her gauntlets and caught the giant ball. She stood firmly but the giant ball continued to push her farther away. Topaz ran behind her and pressed against her back. Eventually the two stopped as Garnet tossed the giant thing overhead. The free ball burst in the air and the one that carried Tanzanite sent her into a stone wall. Rock crumbled and cracked, and the ball detonated, creating a massive explosion. Tourmaline looked behind him to see Tanzanite's lifeless body, firmly pressed into the wall of the kindergarten. Pyrite let out a laugh.

"Such weaklings could never keep me entertained. I would've killed them where they stood, but the others begged me so nicely I couldn't help but let them live and suffer." Pyrite boasted, "But you...you look like I could have fun smacking you around.".

Ruby's eyes widened as the titanic gem towered over him.

"Tourmaline run! That gem took all of us down in nearly instantaneously! You gotta wait for us to fight her!" Ruby warned.

Tourmaline turned over to Ruby and gave her a blank stare. Ruby's worried expression faded into a curious gaze.

"All at once huh?" Tourmaline repeated.

Pyrite sneered at the comment.

"Those weaklings your friends? That's sad." Pyrite taunted.

Tourmaline turned away from Pyrite and jumped over to Tanzanite. She pulled the unconscious gem out of the wall and leaped to a safe spot away from the fight. He laid her down gently and then turned back to Pyrite. He leaped over to her and landed with a crouch.

"You Homeworld gems…" Tourmaline said maliciously as he stood up, "...are finding all sorts of ways to piss me off.".

Tourmaline kicked forward and nailed the giant gem with a blast of green energy. It was a direct hit, but as the smoke cleared, there was no sign of damage. Pyrite scowled at the statement, but then started laughing to herself, and then it became so loud that everyone could hear her. Feldspar was uneasy. Pyrite usually got riled up, but this was different. Pyrite stopped laughing and looked down at the boy with an insane grin.

"Such a cocky little one, I like that. Since you're so keen on dying, how about I show you something interesting?" Pyrite offered as she flexed her body, "Let me show you true power!".

With that, Pyrite started to scream, holding her arms in as she flexed all of her muscles. The ground the gems stood on started to rumble as they all stared at the gem's awesome power. Black energy began to form around Pyrite's arms, and her form began to twitch and bulge. Her already beefy arms pulsated and grew into large chunks of pure muscle, tearing through her suit and revealing silver skin. Her thick legs grew as well and her body released a giant pulse of black and silver energy. Tourmaline didn't flinch at the pulse, but he still slid all the way back to the now healed Obsidian. Steven took Taz by the hand and ran to where Tanzanite was resting. The energy faded away and revealed Pyrite's true form. The titanic gem stood tall, bulging with silver muscle tearing through black skin everywhere across her body. Her eyes were now like pools of melted iron, no sign of her pupils. Feldspar stared on in awe at her daughter, terrified of her real power and form. Pyrite's angered expression turned into a cocky smirk. She eased up and walked a bit towards Tourmaline, stopping for a second to point at him.

"You Tourmaline. I choose you to be the first of my prey." Pyrite declared.

Obsidian hopped next to Tourmaline, her hammer drawn and ready to fight. Fluorite and Sphene stared on in horror. Even back when they went to capture her those thousands of years ago, they never witnessed something so horrible. Taking advantage of the confusion, Jet shoved her blade into Fluorite's back, the pain bringing the red gem back to Earth. Sphene looked over to her opponent, only to see the club inches away from her face, and then the hit connected, smashing her against a boulder, crushing her head. Pyrite roared out, and charged forward. Tourmaline flinched at her insane speed, and pushed Obsidian out of the way of the charging menace. With a primal roar, she formed another ball of energy, turning around quickly and threw it at Tourmaline. The boy dodged it and the ball hit another phage, blowing the tall thing to smithereens. Jet and Sardonyx rushed after their fleeing friends and Pyrite.

"You focus on your own opponents! We'll help Tourmaline!" Sardonyx assured.

Pearl nodded at this and turned back to Black Pearl, who had her legs extended out with a few threads of thick webbing.

"Come on now...you know you're going to die here anyway. We're not so different, you and I. We both know fighting will result in nothing gained. Just stand still and wait for their fight to end." Black Pearl persuaded.

Pearl pointed her spear at her and frowned.

"You call yourself a pearl? A pearl never gives up on her allies, even if it means giving her own life to do so." Pearl scolded.

Black Pearl glared at her.

"Then I guess I will have to take your wretched life." Black Pearl stated.

Jasper and Garnet locked arms as the two struggled and strained to make the other budge, while the others continued their battles. Feldspar looked on from her watch point as Tourmaline and Obsidian ran from Pyrite, who continued throwing deadly projectiles at them, blowing up each and every bit of the kindergarten. From behind her, she could feel the presence of another. She looked over to see Topaz, his sai at his side and his expression stern and motionless.

"Quite a companion you have there." He hissed.

Feldspar cracked a mad smile and turned back to the spectacle of destruction.

"Yes...my sweet daughter. She's finally mature enough to fulfill her purpose." Feldspar stated ambiguously.

"Purpose? You mean the destruction of Earth?" Topaz asked.

"Not destruction, cleansing. And not just Earth, the Homeworld too." She admitted.

Topaz was surprised by the statement.

"What? The Homeworld too?" He asked.

"Yes. For millennium, I had to be oppressed by that disgusting Yellow Diamond, and ridiculed by her peers. My research, dismissed as nonsense, my reputation, destroyed, all because of her. After the condemnation of Pyrite, I was forced to try to remake something like her, but each and every specimen was a failure. I could never make them like Pyrite, not without them being too violent, and eventually I was condemned for my actions and thrown to the side like a piece of trash. I had to grab a scrap pearl for my one and only companion, but it was worth it, for we both held the same contempt for the Homeworld. Axinite taking pity on me and allowing me the honor of accompanying her here was the greatest thing that has happened every since Pyrite's birth. And now, standing above a falling army, I can only smile as I see the fruits of my research come true. Pyrite has become what I expected, and feared her to be. A true gem, a killing machine! With her power at my side, we will eradicate all life on this puny planet, and then return to the Homeworld, killing off that pathetic diamond and forming our new utopia!" Feldspar spoke.

Topaz scowled at her and assumed a fighting stance.

"You must be insane to think that you can control something like that." He commented.

Feldspar was silent, only pulling her knife out of her gem before facing Topaz with a sour stare.

"Maybe I am, but that doesn't change the fact that you all are going to die here." She assured him.

Back on the ground, Pyrite brought both of her arms back and flung forward two balls of black energy. The balls collided midair and created a massive explosion, launching Tourmaline and Obsidian back. The two gems bounded off the rock, but managed to catch themselves, only to see two more coming towards them. They ducked under the balls and they rocketed towards more machinery, blowing them up. Pyrite stood and laughed as Sardonyx and Jet caught up to them.

"If you don't want to fight back I understand completely, but resistance or not I'm going to destroy every living thing on this rock!" Pyrite declared.

Tourmaline scowled at the massive gem and started charging up his gems. Green sparks flashed from them and Obsidian joined him by his side, letting her fire flow from her body and her hammer. Jet and Sardonyx jumped over the hulking frame of Pyrite and landed next to their friends, ready to battle her head on. Pyrite grinned, and then charged forward, her stomps creating craters as she charged forward, with Tourmaline and the others charging towards her. Tourmaline leaped up and kicked at her head, but she dodged out of the way and hit him with a left hook. Obsidian swung her hammer at her, but before the hit could connect, Pyrite spun around and slammed her elbow into the smaller black gem's nose, causing her to fall down. Pyrite then turned her attention to Sardonyx, grabbing her head and then throwing her into Jet. Pyrite let out a small laugh, but it was cut short when she felt something slam into the back of her head. She turned over to see Tourmaline with a vicious expression on his face, and his knee in the back of her head. She turned around and grabbed the boy by the shirt and smashed him into the ground. She charged up for a point blank blast, but her arm was swatted away by a swing from Obsidian's hammer. She swung again at her chest, but despite a direct blow, it was only a minor annoyance to the giant gem. Pyrite grabbed her by the arm, yanking her down and then slammed her into her knee. Obsidian let out a pained groan and was thrown towards Sardonyx and Jet. Sardonyx caught the giant gem, and Pyrite then kicked Tourmaline up into the air. She leaped up to slam him down with a mighty punch, but Tourmaline spun mid air and kicked her head. The kick resulted in a small explosion, but it had no effect as Pyrite continued her punch, spiking Tourmaline to the ground. The gem landed hard in front of his friends, but as the dust settled he got up from his hole in the ground, relatively fine. Pyrite landed calmly in front of the gems and sneered.

"You think four on one will change a thing? Do you really think you have what it takes to stop me!?" She shouted.

Tourmaline let out a sigh and then grinned.

"Damn Pyrite, gotta admit you caught me off guard with that. But your opportunity is gone. Now we're gonna crush you." Tourmaline threatened as his grin shifted into a scowl.

Pyrite chuckled to herself.

"Even when facing death you still find the willpower to spout out these absurdities." Pyrite taunted.

Sardonyx charged forward and towards Tourmaline. The gems got ready for the attack, but at the last minute, she leaped to the side and towards Sardonyx and Jet. Pyrite grabbed the brown gem by her face and Jet swung her sword at the giant gem's abs. Her sword skidded off the rough surface, but the acid managed to stay on her. Jet smirked at the clean hit, but then stared on in shock as the acid merely dissolved the cloth of her suit.

"_What the hell is she made of?!_" She yelled in her head.

Unhindered by the attack, Pyrite proceeded to slam Sardonyx deep into the stone wall. She heard the brown gem yell out in pain as a splatter of her red blood sprayed onto her wrist. Pyrite turned her attention away from the pained Sardonyx and back to Tourmaline.

"Tourmaline...how much do you love your friends?" She asked in a wicked tone.

Jet gnashed her teeth at the cruel question and then saw Tourmaline step in front of her.

"Jet, get out of here. Help the others and we might have a chance if we group up." Tourmaline ordered.

"But-"

"Go!"

Obsidian leaped next to Tourmaline and the two charged forward. Begrudgingly, Jet ran back towards the others. Pyrite charged forward, and the two gems lashed out at her, Tourmaline with a leaping punch and Obsidian with a downward swing of her hammer. Pyrite effortlessly caught the blows with her hands, but Obsidian reacted with a punch to the larger gem's face, and Tourmaline joined her with a leaping knee. Both hits slammed into her chin, causing the grinning gem to go stern for a second. But the blows only annoyed the giant gem. She hoisted Obsidian off the ground with her hammer, stepping back and then thrusting both of her fists forward. Her spikes sunk into Tourmaline's stomach and Obsidian's chest as the two of them flew back and into the canyon wall.

/**/

Back near the ship, Pearl and Black Pearl were in a dance of death, with Black Pearl taking the lead. Pearl was dodging each blow from Black Pearl's legs, and blocked each other hit her spear. Eventually, Black Pearl saw an ideal opportunity and sent her threads out. Pearl spun her spear around and instead of connecting to her, they wrapped around her spear. Black Pearl pulled back to hoist Pearl back, but Pearl let go of her spear and pulled out another one, arming it at her side and firing a laser from the tip. The first blast hit Black Pearl dead on, sending her flying back, but she twirled mid air to dodge the next few shots. Black Pearl hissed and charged forward.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the other gems fights, Garnet and Jasper were slugging it out, with Garnet occasionally blocking a headbutt from Jasper. Jasper and Garnet locked arms and Garnet spun the larger gem against a rock. Jasper, bleeding from the corner of her mouth, smirked at the angry gem.

"What's wrong? Worried about your little boy?" Jasper taunted.

Garnet let go of her hand and immediately punched Jasper in the stomach. The great gem wheezed in pain, and Garnet then uppercutted her. She scowled at the mighty gem as she spun around and launched herself down at her. Garnet pointed her gauntlets upwards and fired them at Jasper. Jasper's eyes went wide at the strange attack, and the two fists clocked her in the face. Garnet gained her gauntlets back and leaped up to the stunned gem. She slammed her back down to the ground and landed on her back. Jasper was pinned and at Garnet's mercy, and Garnet gave her none. She repeatedly punched Jasper in her head, wanting her to go into her gem so she could go find Tourmaline, but Jasper stayed awake.

"Garnet! Hold her still!" Jet requested.

Jet rushed into the fray and towards Garnet, her sword drawn and intent on delivering the finishing blow to Jasper, but suddenly, Pyrite appeared in between her and Garnet. Garnet and Jet stared at the insane surprise with shocked expressions. Taking advantage of their confusion, she grabbed Jet by the head and spun around, swinging her fist at Garnet, sending her flying. She then tossed Jet across the ground, with her bounding and slamming into boulders as she went across the hard floor. Ruby just finished her fight with Axinite, but she was covered with stab wounds and was exhausted. She turned away from the sight of the orange stone to see the small black gem missile break through rock after rock, and stared in horror at the missle's launcher. Jasper looked up at Pyrite and shot her a malicious grin.

"Good work...now help me up." She demanded as she held her hand out.

Pyrite growled and crouched down, and reached down. She reached past Jasper's hand, surprising the orange gem as Pyrite instead settled for her hair. She lifted the giant gem by the hair and scowled at her.

"Scum like you isn't fit to share a battlefield with me." She stated.

Pyrite then thrust her fist into Jasper's stomach, and let a ball of energy out inside of her. Her insides completely destroyed, Jasper gasped in pain and then retreated into her gem. Pyrite grabbed the gem out of the air and looked at the small thing. She grinned and tossed it in front of her. The small orange shard went flying, and would've smashed on a wall if it hadn't been for Taz's telekinesis catching the flying gem. Steven ran over to Jet and started dragging her over to the safety area.

Sapphire and Heliodor had stopped fighting to stare at the mighty gem, while the others had completely finished their fights. Tanza was a bit cut up and chilled from the blasts from Benitoite, but other than that she was relatively fine. Pearl and Black Pearl stared on at the giant gem, and Pyrite turned her attention to them. She charged forward and decked Pearl in the jaw, sending her spinning into the air. She turned to Black Pearl and grabbed her by the throat. Black Pearl clawed at the giant gems arms in protest, but Pyrite ignored the struggling signs.

"Why...are you...doing...this?" Black Pearl choked.

"You're buzzing around like flies, it's really annoying." Pyrite stated.

With a roar, she flung Black Pearl at the ship. She flew through the air and eventually broke through one of the fingers and landed inside, bleeding and unable to move amongst the rubble. Heliodor froze in fear, knowing that she was next. Pyrite turned around and grinned at the frightened gem.

"Who...who's side are you on anyway!?" Heliodor shouted.

"Mine." Pyritite stated.

With that, she flung a giant ball of black energy at the yellow gem. Heliodor flew away with the ball, and Sapphire jumped out of the way to avoid going with her. She flew into an undamaged phage, and the ball blew both her, her gems and the phage up. Heliodor was dead, and the rest of the Homeworld gems were stuck in their gems. During the chaos, Taz and Steven had gathered all the stones and placed them in a bubble, which Taz protected herself. Pearl painfully rose to her feet, supporting herself with her spear as Tourmaline and the other gems finally joined the fray. Tourmaline leaped over next to Garnet, who was just getting out of the stone wall.

"Where's Jet?" He asked.

Garnet looked to the boy.

"Probably in her gem right now." She answered.

Tourmaline grit his teeth and faced Pyrite. The gems circled her, each with wrathful expressions, countering her gleeful grin.

"If you just stayed out of my way or died you wouldn't have to be suffering like this. You're all utter wastes of space and time!" The titanic gem insulted.

Tourmaline was the first to rush forward. He roared out as Pyrite faced him. He attacked her with a barrage of kicks and punches, but Pyrite calmly blocked each and every attack. Garnet charged next, swinging in with a flurry of punches, but Pyrite took the blows inhumanly well. The ground shook and trembled from the ferocity of the attacks, but Pyrite merely pushed them away and launched another pair of energy balls at them. From the air, Pearl and Obsidian leaped up and sent their own attacks down at her. The first to connect were the streams of energy bolts from Pearl, followed by Obsidian's torrent of flames. The two gems grinned at the direct attack, but their hopeful expressions faded into angered scowls as Pyrite brushed the fire away, revealing herself to only be lightly burned. She crouched down to leap up, but Tanza kicked her in the back. The titan stumbled forward and let out an irritated growl. From on top of Tanza, Sapphire jumped onto Pyrite's back. She was about to claw into her neck, but Pyrite rolled forward, steamrolling the blue gem. She quickly turned to Tanza and jumped into her, slamming her head into hers. The purple gem went flying towards Steven and Taz, bounding and rolling to them. Pyrite then stomped down on Sapphire's stomach, getting her to cough up a load of blue blood. She smirked and then felt something wrap around her arms and torso. She looked down to see two of Amethyst's whips wrapped around her.

"Eat this!" The purple gem yelled out as she cracked her whips.

A surge of purple energy came rushing towards her, and it connected to her body, creating a massive explosion. Amethyst grinned to herself as the attack went through, but it was soon replaced by a fearful expression. As the smoke cleared, it showed Pyrite with a stern expression, and a large burn mark along her chest.

"Well now, I actually felt that. Guess you're going to have to die first." She said as she launched a barrage of small silver balls at Amethyst.

The purple gem rolled into a ball and speed off, dodging the energy barrage. Pearl and Obsidian landed on the ground next to Sardonyx and the three rushed over to Pyrite. Pyrite laughed and ran towards the three of them, slamming her head into Sardonyx's while knocking the others down with a double lariat. Pearl spun mid air and landed hard on her face. She strained herself to get up and saw Amethyst roll by her and towards Pyrite. Sardonyx fell off from her position on Pyrite and felt her massive foot stomp into her stomach. Obsidian struggled to get off her arm, but it was hopeless. Pyrite leaped into the air and towards an upright phage. She let Obsidian roll of her arm and grabbed her face. She thrust the black and red gem down and she split the great thing in half using Obsidian as a tool. As they finally connected to the rock floor, Pyrite let out a ball of energy point blank into Obsidian's mouth. The blast made the two separate halves of the phage fly in opposite directions and she leaped away from the downed gem. She turned to see the rolling ball speeding towards her, and she ran to meet it.

"Kick ball!" She exclaimed.

With that, she punted Amethyst, sending her flying straight forward. Tourmaline and Garnet rushed back in, but Garnet was taken down by the Amethyst ball. Tourmaline leaped up high, his leg glowing and rushed back down with a roar. He kicked Pyrite square in the forehead and detonated another explosion, but the effect did nothing for her. She took her fist and uppercutted Tourmaline in the ribs. Ruby rushed in and attempted to cut the extended arm, but her blades were deflected by the hard skin. Pyrite pointed her other hand at Ruby and blasted her with a ball of black energy, and then grabbing Tourmaline with her other hand, threw him at the ball of energy. Tourmaline slammed into the ball and Ruby as both gems cried out in pain and the explosion overtook them. Everything was silent, as Pyrite still stood tall over all of them, laughing triumphantly.

"What's wrong Tourmaline!? Are you and your friends completely finished!?" The massive gem taunted.

She was met with silence, and then turned around to see Steven and Taz. The black gem faced them and scowled.

"You can say goodbye to your precious little friends." She said harshly.

A ball of black energy formed in the palm of her hand, and she threw the ball at Steven and Taz. Taz winced realizing it's too late to dodge, but Steven stood in front of her and pulled up his shirt, revealing his gem.

"You're not gonna hurt my friends anymore!" He declared.

With that, a giant pink energy shield with rose thorn markings appeared in front of them and protected the children from the blast. Pyrite stared in amazement at the sudden shield.

"What? What the hell is that?" She asked herself.

Steven maintained his focus as Jet painfully rose up. Meanwhile, Pyrite flexed her arms as she placed her elbows near her ribs and conjured two more balls.

"It doesn't matter! If it's something I can see, I can destroy it!" She shouted as she tossed the two balls.

Steven braced for the impact of the the two balls, but suddenly a giant, translucent hand came crashing down. It struggled, but it managed to push the two balls down into the ground, creating a deadly explosion. Pyrite and Steven looked up to see a small blue, winged gem with two giant, water-like arms flying above the kindergarten. Pyrite smirked at the sight.

"Oh look, a little blue bug has come by to get squashed." Pyrite joked.

Lapis glared down at the violent gem.

"You usually pick on kids!?" She called out.

Pyrite cocked her head and glared at the gem.

"I do what I feel like, simple as that." Pyrite stated.

Using her other arm, she thrust it down towards Pyrite, but the gem dodged out of the way. She continued to dodge the giant arm when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back. She looked over to see Garnet, thrusting her fist into her back.

"You again!?" The black and silver gem yelled.

Garnet rolled out of the way of Lapis' next strike, leaving Pyrite to take the full blow. Pyrite crouched down under the intense pressure of the water fist, but slowly started to stand up. Meanwhile, Lapis used her other hand to grab the injured gems and brought them over to Steven. Steven started licking his hands over and over, healing all of his friends. The gems slowly got back up and quickly rushed back to attack their enemy. Tourmaline painfully got up and off of Ruby, and handed her over to the welcoming tendril. Healing his wounds, he rushed back over to the fight. Pyrite managed to stand up on her feet, and quickly shot a ball up and through the arm. Lapis dodged the ball itself, but it detonated next to her, launching her to the side. She struggled to get her stance back, and the watery arm let up the pressure, allowing Pyrite to escape. She leaped backwards out of the water, and looked up to see Tourmaline. He had his legs brought up to his chest and then shot them out and into the enemy's stomach. He felt the satisfaction of his feet sinking into her flesh, and then the impact of the follow up explosion. However the moment of satisfaction was quickly lost when from the smoke, Pyrite's hands reached out and grabbed his legs. He let out a cry of protest as Pyrite tossed her at the ship. He flew through the air like a bullet and broke into the side of the palm. The whole ship shook as Feldspar and Topaz kept fighting on top, exchanging slash and stabs whenever they could. Back in the ship, Tourmaline slowly got back up on his feet, only to stumble over and fall on his hands and knees. He smirked to himself.

"I know I'm strong, but this girl's on a whole new level." He said to himself.

Back outside, Pyrite fired ball after ball at Lapis,who flew through the air to dodge each blast until being hit by a wild pitch. She heard someone charging forward and saw Sardonyx rushing to her. She threw a ball at her and it collided with the giant gem. The smoke cleared and it was shown that she was able to guard the blast.

"Can't you just give us a break!?" She shouted.

Pyrite kept grinning.

"Sure, how do you want it? Your leg, arm or gem?" She asked sadistically.

Pyrite continued to fire on the tall brown gem, oblivious to the threat behind her. Garnet and Obsidian rushed behind their target and slammed their weapons into her back again. Pyrite let out a pained grunt but managed to stand her ground.

"_What's happening to me? Why does it hurt!?_" She screamed in her head.

Pyrite thrust her elbows back and nailed the two gems, hitting Garnet in the face and Obsidian in the chest. The two fell back and Pyrite turned around with two balls of energy. She blasted the gems at point blank range, resulting in a massive explosion. Sardonyx fell to her knee, staring up at the vicious gem with a grimace. From behind her, Ruby and her friends rushed forward. The four gems all thrust their weapons forward, and even managed to break a bit of her skin. Pyrite growled in pain and scooped all the gems in a big bear hug. She heard the gems bones begin to crack and break underneath their screams and she regained her sadistic grin. The screams of his friends revitalized Tourmaline and he slowly walked out of the hole in the hand. Sardonyx slammed her club into the ground and a series of spikes erupted from the ground and pierced her legs. She grit her teeth in pain and dropped the group, then smacking them to the side. She charged forward and punted Sardonyx's head, then hitting her with another ball of energy. She then noticed Pearl and Amethyst doing a strange dance, immediately realizing what they were trying to do. She quickly rushed forward and cut in between them as they were about to do the final step.

"No fusion!" Pyrite shouted.

She grabbed their bodies and slammed them into the ground. As the rock crumbled underneath them, Pearl summoned her spear and pointed it at Pyrite's face, then blasting her. Pyrite was motionless for a second, and Amethyst swung her whip at the gems chest, scratching it up very roughly. Eventually, the two gems felt something warm form around their stomachs, and Pyrite blasted the two remaining crystal gems. She stood up, with her eye seared shut and her chest lightly bleeding. Tourmaline panted and stared the enemy down. All of his friends were on the ground again, and he was getting angry.

"You...won't...hurt...my friends anymooore!" He screamed out as he rushed forward.

Garnet slowly sat up from the rubble and felt her burnt stomach. She turned over and saw Tourmaline rushing towards the enemy. Pyrite turned around to see her original opponent rushing towards her. Steven and Taz beamed with joy to see Tourmaline back.

"I'm stronger than any of you scumbags, even you Pyrite!" He boasted.

"Then please do your best to beat me into submission, pheh!" The giant gem taunted.

Tourmaline rushed in and Pyrite punched forward at his head. Tourmaline dodged the blow and uppercutted the tall gem's head, causing it to fly backwards and a surprised expression to grow on her face.

"_No! That isn't supposed to happen! Am I getting worn down...or is this kid getting stronger!?" _She wondered.

Tourmaline spun in midair and flipped over. He brought his leg down towards her head. Pyrite stepped to the side and the blade of his shoe sunk into her shoulder, and then tore through her torso. Pyrite felt a burning pain go through her entire body, and saw a stream of chrome blood burst from the wound. Tourmaline landed, spun around and delivered a roundhouse to her stomach. The blade sunk in and another explosion erupted from his leg. After it burst, Tourmaline jumped back and started sending out a flurry of small balls at the giant gem. Pyrite felt her skin being peppered and torn apart by the barrage. She released a roar of rage and rushed forward through the blasts and punched Tourmaline with all her might. Tourmaline skidded across the rocky plane, creating a massive pattern of rock as he slid down. Pyrite rushed towards Tourmaline, only to be delayed by Garnet slugging her in the face. Garnet didn't let up the assault, constantly delivering hook after hook to the now weakened Pyrite. The enraged gem managed to counterpunch and knocked Garnet away, then kicking her into the wall once more. Garnet was stuck in the wall, and Pyrite fired a flurry of silver balls at Garnet, pinning the gem to the wall and draining all of her strength. From behind her, Jet jumped onto Pyrite's back and thrust her sword into her gaping wound. Pyrite let out a roar of pain as Jet's acid seeped into her body.

"_Suffer you monster!_" She cursed in her head.

Pyrite roared out, enraged and grabbed Jet off of her back. She slammed her in front of her, her grip crushing Jet's shoulders, and then thrust her knee into her back. Jet screamed out in pain as she felt her back break. Suddenly, Pyrite felt her body being grabbed by something wet. She looked up to see Lapis, wounded but still using her water on her. Pyrite roared out in pain, and barely managed to throw another ball of black energy at Lapis. Lapis didn't react in time and was hit by the blast. Her water falled and Pyrite leaped up and met the blue gem in the air, slamming her head into Lapis' stomach. She lazily let Lapis fall underneath her, and she placed her foot on the gem's lower back. The two fell down and landed with a giant crash. Lapis cried out in pain, but couldn't do anything else as Pyrite continued to stomp on her back. She eventually passed out, unable to even maintain her wings. Pyrite began to laugh to herself.

"_I did it...I beat them...I beat them all!" _She thought triumphantly to herself.

She hopped out of the crater and in front of the downed Tourmaline. She frowned when she saw that he was still, painfully trying to get up.

"Why are you even bothering you scum? If you move anymore you're sure to die." Pyrite asked.

"Won't...let you...hurt...my friends!" Tourmaline declared.

Pyrite stared at the struggling green gem with disgust and then turned to the group she smacked aside earlier. All were still on the ground, writhing in pain. Tanza was the only one trying to crawl away from the crowd and back to Steven, who was currently traversing over rubble with Taz to make it to their injured friends. Pyrite grinned to herself deviously as she showed her back to Tourmaline.

"Well isn't that touching. Fighting with all of your might and enduring so much pain, maybe even sacrificing your life so that they might live another day…" She said with fake sincerity, "...what a foolish path you've chosen!".

A ball of tar black energy formed in her hand, and she spun around and tossed it at Tourmaline. Tourmaline winced as he prepared for his fate, but the ball stopped in front of him. He lifted his head up to see the ball turning away from him, instead rocketing towards his friends. Steven saw the danger to the other gems and tried to run as fast as he could. He and Taz almost made it, but Steven's leg got caught in a crevice in the rubble. Tourmaline looked at his friends scared and worried expressions. Before the ball landed on them, time froze. Tourmaline stared into Ruby's, Sapphire's, and Tanzanite's eyes one final time, carving a memory of each and every one of them in his mind. And in an instant, the ball landed on them, creating a massive explosion of dark energy. The three gems felt their bodies begin to disintegrate, and their gems start to crack and all looked at the outline of Tourmaline reaching out to them through the darkness and closed their eyes. Tanza was blasted away from the group and rolled over to Taz. She grabbed her friend with her telekinesis and continued looking on at the horrible display. The energy dissipated, and no one was there. Tears started to flow down Steven's face. his foot still stuck and started slamming his fists into the ground.

"_No! No no no no no! This isn't supposed to happen! We're supposed to stay together forever! I...I failed them!_" He cried out in his head.

Pyrite continued to stare at Tourmaline's shocked and destroyed expression and began to grin.

"Oops, did I just blow them up?" Pyrite said and then started to guffaw.

She threw her head up high as she continued to laugh, and Tourmaline felt an intense sorrow. His best friends, Ruby, Sapphire, and Tanzanite, they were gone forever. And the one who took them from him was standing above him, laughing her ass off. Tourmaline slowly turned to her, his blue green eyes now flushed emerald, even flooding the whiteness in his eyes. This wasn't the frustration of losing that he felt when he fought Garnet or Obsidian, or even the determination to win against Jasper or any other person he fought...this was pure, black rage. He didn't feel anything else. No pain, no weariness, every part of his body was driving him to killing this gem in front of him. Pyrite stopped laughing and glared at Tourmaline with a scowl.

"You slime, still not comfortable with the idea of dying? Your friends are dead, and everyone else close to you is about to go. Like those two…" Pyrite said as she pointed her hand towards Steven and Taz.

Tourmaline let out an inhuman roar of rage and rushed towards her. Pyrite looked over to see Tourmaline's twisted, wrathful expression, and then felt his blade cut through her torso. The tip of his shoe connected with her chin and she went flying back. Tourmaline landed on the ground and ran over to the bounding monster. He released a massive wave of green energy and it impacted on her body, creating a massive explosion. The other gems painfully looked up to see Tourmaline, bleeding everywhere and running towards their tormentor. Pyrite charged at him, leaking blood from her chest and the right half of her face now completely singed off. She reached back and punched Tourmaline's right side of his face. She grinned at the direct hit, but then realized that Tourmaline didn't stop moving. The right half of Tourmaline's face was torn off from the massive punch, and he thrust his hand into Pyrite's stomach. He gripped the open wound's fold and tore it downwards, opening a large portion of her body up. Pyrite screamed out in pain and knocked Tourmaline away with an uppercut. She jumped up to the boy and grabbed him by the ankles, whipping him back and then smashing him against the rocks. She gripped her stomach as more of her blood spilled out, but managed to walk over, wind up a massive punch and nail him in the chest. Then she did it again, and again, driving him deeper into the ground. Eventually, Tourmaline was pressed some twenty feet into the ground. Pyrite jumped back and then charged up two balls of energy. She took aim at Tourmaline and pointed them right at him. She fired the balls and they pressed him deeper into the ground, then exploding deep below the surface. The ground beneath the behemoth gem started to crack and fall apart. She leaped back and saw the entire floor in front of her cave in and fall down. Back on the hand ship, Topaz had pinned Fledspar against a wall with one of his sai in one shoulder, and another sai in her gem. He then noticed that they were falling down deep into the caverns beneath the surface of the kindergarten.

"_An Earthquake!? No...maybe it was…_" He thought.

The mad doctor just laughed as she coughed up pink blood. She knew who caused this, and she was still proud that it was her only daughter. The ancient machinery deep below the kindergarten was being rained down on by the crumbling corridors. Lines were destroyed and the mainframe was quickly being crushed under the intense weight. Any remaining phages that were still active shut themselves down. The kindergarten was in stasis once more.

Pyrite smiled down at her handy work. The pain she was feeling was unbearable, her vision was blurry and she had lost way more blood than she ever did before, but she had won. Or so she thought. From the rubble, she noticed something crawling out of it. Tourmaline slowly crawled out of the hole with one arm. As he fell over and stumbled back onto his feet, it was revealed that the left half of his torso was blown off, along with a bit of his pelvis. Pyrite scowled at the mad gem, now more enraged than she ever was before.

"Your persistence is annoying!" She declared.

She ran down the pile of rubble, stomping rocks into dust, and Tourmaline ran up to her as well. His right leg glowed as bright as a star and he leaped up to Pyrite. Pyrite threw her fist at Tourmaline, but the punch whiffed past his head. She thought she was aiming right at him, but her seared eye made it impossible for her to aim correctly. The blades on Tourmaline's shoe slid down to the bottom and created a large spike. Tourmaline thrust the foot forward in a flying sidekick.

"**DIIIIIIEEEEE!**" He screamed.

With that, the light from his leg left his body and entered into Pyrite's body. She felt an intense burning sensation in her stomach, and it soon spread throughout her body. Tourmaline launched her back up the slope and fell on his side. Pyrite fell on her back and started to writhe in pain. The energy that Tourmaline put into that kick was spreading throughout her body. Cracks began to form throughout her entire body as she started to spasm and scream out in pain. Her weapons disappeared and revealed her gemstones, which were now cracking. With each crack in her body, a green light started to leak out. She grit her teeth as she felt the energy inside her tear her inside out.

"_**TOURMALINE, WRAAGGHHH**_**!**" She cried out.

With those final words, her gems broke and she exploded like a green firework. The burning chunks of her dissolved in the air. The surviving gems stared at the hole, hoping for someone to come out. The seconds that passed felt like hours. Suddenly, they saw Topaz walk up the slope, holding Tourmaline's intact arm over his shoulder. The gems beamed with joy to see that Tourmaline was still alive. However that joy was short lived, as Tourmaline pushed himself off of Topaz. The pale gem looked at his student with a concerned gaze as he gripped his burnt and bleeding side. He pathetically stumbled over to where his friends had been blasted, hoping to find a cracked gem, or a shard, anything that meant they could come back. He made it to the black field, and there was nothing there, just a burnt area of nothing. He grit his teeth and fell onto his knees. Tears started pouring out of his eyes. He bent slowly bent over, the pain of his body, and the pain of his loss finally sinking in.

"Tanzanite...Sapphire...RUUUBY!" He screamed out.

He threw his head back and let out a scream of pain that echoed throughout the silent chasm, and the others started to tear up at the terrible sight themselves. When his mournful shriek ended, Tourmaline was silent. Steven slowly walked up to Tourmaline, but saw the gem fall to his side, and then disappear. He then ran over to his gemstones to look at them. To his relief, they miraculously weren't cracked, but it did little to lighten up his mood. Tourmaline's gems were then taken away from Steven by Topaz. He silently stared at the gems of his pupil

"_You did everything you could...please don't blame yourself when you get back._" He prayed.

The pale gem then turned to Steven, who still had tears in his eyes. He walked away from him and towards Garnet, who finally woke up and managed to pry herself out of the wall. Steven wiped his eyes and ran after Topaz. Garnet walked forward and looked at Topaz.

"Is it over?" She asked.

Topaz nodded.

"Feldspar is dead." He stated, "I made sure of that.".

Garnet looked over to see the remaining troops painfully get up and back to Topaz.

"And the kindergarten...is it deactivated?" She asked.

"Look around you. The kindergarten isn't just deactivated, it's completely destroyed. There's nothing left to do here. Let's go home." Topaz declared.

Topaz started to walk towards the warp pad with Tourmaline's gems, as Garnet watched him walk away. She counted seven of her comrades, not counting Tourmaline, who was in his gem. They were missing a few people.

"Where are Ruby, Sapphire and Tanzanite?" Garnet pleaded.

Topaz stopped in his tracks and turned over to Garnet, with a pained expression.

"They're gone." He said solemnly.

Her fears confirmed, Garnet frowned with her jaw hanging slightly slack. Her friends had died, it was the war all over again. She heard someone sobbing, and looked down to see Steven in the fetal position, crying his eyes out. Garnet crouched down in front of the boy, picked him up and held her in her arms. He squeezed her tightly and buried his face into her shoulder. With heavy hearts and worn down bodies, the gems slowly walked back to the warp pad. Topaz noticed Lapis, still unconscious and lying face down in the crater. He slid down the thing and picked her up by the sash of her clothes. They all dragged themselves to the warp pad and in a flash of light, they all went home. The kindergarten was silent, with the exception of someone burrowing out of the wreckage of the ship. Battered and bleeding, Black Pearl crawled out of the ship and looked on at the aftermath of the intense battle. She crawled onto the top of her ship, and was shocked to see Feldspar's shattered gem. She winced at the sight and looked away. She turned to the warp pad and slowly walked over to it. She stood on the pad and willed herself somewhere far away from the forsaken place.

"_Nothing but pointless bloodshed. That's all this was._" She thought to herself.

/**/

The gems arrived back at Steven's home. Steven was still huddled against Garnet. Obsidian took one step before collapsing onto the floor, with Jet slumping over to her side. Sardonyx walked over to the breakfast bar, took a knee and rested against it. Taz struggled and strained, but she managed to carry Tanza over to the couch. With the last of her power, she lifted her friend up and onto the couch. She climbed up next to her, cuddled up to her, closed her eyes, and went to sleep. Topaz walked over to the couch, carrying Tourmaline's gems and Lapis. He placed the blue gem on the couch near the other pair of gems, and laid Tourmaline's gems next to her. He went outside and sat on a chair at the patio. He stared out to the sea, and felt himself drifting away.

"_Don't wake up before me Tourmaline."_ He wished in his head.

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl all walked up the stairs and made it to Steven's bed before the latter two completely collapsed on it. Garnet painfully laid down in between the two gems, while still holding Steven tightly. She looked down to see Steven asleep, his face stained with tears. For now, they could once again rest easy. Earth is safe, but the price of it's safety came at a very heavy price. She just hopes that things will hurt a little less in the morning. Not just for her, for everyone.


	28. Chapter 28: Almost Alone

Polished Gems #28: Almost Alone

The morning sun started to rise over the horizon, bringing its light over the semi-ruined city. The citizens of the city started to drive back into their town. To their relief, there wasn't a lot of damage to the town, save the fryman's distress for the destruction of their restaurant. Back at the temple, the gems were still resting after the hardship they had to go through last night. Suddenly, Tourmaline's gems glowed and floated up into the air. A light burst from them and Tourmaline appeared. He landed lightly on his feet and looked around the room with a melancholy expression. He quietly walked up the stairs and looked over to Steven's bed. He saw him and the crystal gems, but not Ruby, Sapphire nor Tanzanite. He didn't know why he tried to fool himself, they were gone. He snuck back downstairs and stepped out of the door. He looked on at the clear blue sky and sparkling sea, and felt nothing. This once gorgeous sight that always filled his heart with joy did nothing for him. He blankly stared out at the sea, hoping that it will bring those old feelings back.

"It's quite a beautiful view." A familiar voice commented.

Topaz rose from his chair and walked next to Tourmaline, then leaning on the railway.

"What a wonderful sight. Such beautiful shades of blue, what a wonderful start to a lovely day." Topaz said, then turning to Tourmaline, "Thought I suppose now you're not thinking about this, are you?".

Tourmaline ignored Topaz and leaped over the railing. He landed on the sandy beach and started walking away from the house. Topaz stared on at him with a concerned stare.

"_Fine, talk when you feel like you're ready to talk Tourmaline._" He thought.

From behind him, he heard the door slam open. He looked over his shoulder to see Tanza with a panicked expression on her face.

"Where's Tourmaline!?" She asked.

Topaz turned around to the tall purple gem.

"He went out for a stroll." Topaz answered.

Tanza walked over to the pale gem.

"And you just let him go!? He's gotta be emotionally unstable right now! He needs his friends! He needs someone to help him feel better! He needs-" Tanza argued.

"What he needs is time to himself to think and reflect!" Topaz interrupted.

Tanza was quiet, staring down at the irate gem with a perplexed expression.

"Tourmaline has suffered something very traumatic. He lost his best friends last night, and he needs time to himself to control his emotions and feelings. If we smother him in an attempt to make him feel better, all it's going to do is make him anxious. We need to let him think for himself." Topaz explained.

Tanza's eyes eased into a sympathetic stare.

"And how do you know this will work?" She asked.

Topaz turned around and stared off at the sea once more.

"Because I went through something just like this long ago." He stated.

Tourmaline walked along the side of the plateau. He slid his hand against the hard surface and stared at the jagged, stone wall. He eventually made it to the base of the plateau and stepped onto the grassy space. He slowly walked up the massive hill and made it to the top. He stared over the edge, down at Steven's house and the beach, and then looked back at the blue sky. He tightly clenched his fists and let his mind settle. He closed his eyes, and let his thoughts and emotions run rampant in his head.

/**/

Back at Steven's home, the gems were awake and gathered around the breakfast island, with the exception of Steven, Taz, and Lapis on the couch, and Pearl, who had just entered the temple. Garnet stood at the end with everyone else staring at her.

"So, total damage report, three dead. Positives, a kindergarten that could have been active and destroyed the world, completely demolished, a bunch of homeworld gems that can and have caused trouble are imprisoned, and one Frankenstein's war monster destroyed. Despite the...heavy costs, I'd say this is far from a shallow victory." Obsidian recollected.

"The actual doctor for the monster's creation is also dead. Made sure of that." Topaz stated.

"Not exactly morale boosting right now. There aren't that many of us left, and if the homeworld decides to come back with more...I'm not sure what we could do." Sardonyx questioned.

Obsidian looked over to Garnet.

"We could go back to the kindergarten and salvage what's left of the ships there. Sure it's highly advanced technology, but with any luck we might be able to do something with it." The tall black gem suggested.

Garnet looked down at the tiles on the island and thought about it. It was a stretch, but any extra fire power would be helpful.

"That ship alone could craft a weapon equal to if not greater than all of our power! It could easily make up for the loss of troops and-"

Tanza slammed her fist onto the tile, making a loud cracking noise, scowling at Obsidian. All eyes were on the angry gem.

"Stop...talking about them like they're just statistics!" She demanded.

Obsidian looked at the purple gem with a sympathetic gaze.

"Sorry." She said.

Garnet looked back over to Obsidian.

"Alright fine. Take what you can from the ships and we'll try to figure this out. It's better than just letting them rust or break out in the elements. Obsidian, Sardonyx, you'll come with me and we'll tear the ship's apart." Garnet ordered.

The others nodded and the two large gems followed the crystal gem's leader. Before they reached the warp pad, Pearl bolted into the room with a panicked look on her face.

"Garnet! We have a problem! I looked at the bubble Taz collected and-"

"You realize that it's more trouble to keep around and decided to finally let me smash those gems?" Obsidian interrupted.

"No!" Steven protested as the others turned to him, "No more gems dying! Friends or not, no one else deserves it!".

The large gem's red markings began to glow as she let out an annoyed groan.

"Whatever." She growled and turned back to Pearl, "What is it Pearl?".

"Okay, I looked over the bubble and counted up the gems based on the descriptions you all gave to me. I checked and double checked, but we're missing one! That Black Pearl is still out there!" Pearl cried.

Topaz, overhearing this conversation, moved away from the island, walked past Amethyst and Jet and made it to the large group.

"You sure about this?" He asked.

Pearl nodded, and Topaz let out a low growl, averting his gaze. He snapped his stare back to Pearl and walked onto the warp pad.

"Pearl, you come with me. You said you were fighting her before Pyrite interrupted you right?" He requested.

"Well...yes but she knocked me quite a ways before she got to Black Pearl." The skinny gem admitted.

"All I need to know is where the two of you were before that happened and I can take it from there." He stated.

Pearl shot a quick skeptical glance at him, but then nodded in agreement. Garnet and her group stepped onto the pad and were ready to go. Topaz squeezed between them and stared at Tanza.

"Tanza…" He called out, grabbing her attention, "...remember to give him his space.".

With that, the gems disappeared in a flash of bright light. Amethyst walked over to Steven's little party while Jet walked over to Tanza. Tanza was still scowling, frustrated with everything going around her. Her friend's deaths, not being allowed to talk with Tourmaline, everything just seemed to pile up on her. Jet gently grabbed Tanza's arm and looked up to her. Tanza stared down at the gem with the same stare.

"He's right you know. All we should do right now is let him think for himself right now. If he needs help, he'll come to us." Jet assured.

Tanza yanked her arm away from Jet and scowled at her.

"Don't you get it you idiot!? He's never going to share his problems with us even, if it means he's has to suffer alone!" She yelled.

Jet flinched from the sudden outburst and Tanza stormed out of the house. Taz just stared at the screen door, feeling bad for both of her friends. Steven nudged over next to her and Jet walked over to them. Amethyst looked over at the scared gem as Lapis overlooked them all.

"Don't let that get to you. She's hurting too. We all are." Amethyst stated.

Jet kneeled down in front of the cushions and looked at them all.

"I just wanted to help." She sobbed.

Taz put her hand on the sad gem's shoulder and smiled at her.

"It's alright." She stated.

Jet shook her head and tried to push out all the negative thoughts. She looked over at Taz and smiled back. She then turned to Lapis.

"So...have you decided on staying with us?".

Lapis averted her gaze.

"I'm still not sure. Earth is strange but the Homeworld is stranger." She admitted.

"Also you might be considered an outlaw now." Amethyst blurted out.

Lapis sighed.

"I guess I don't really have much of a choice.".

/**/

The kindergarten was desolate, save for the few crackles coming from shattered machines. The gems stood in a group, following Pearl as she tried to recollect where she and Black Pearl battled. Eventually, the group was a bit away from the collapsed ship at a small plateau of rock. Pearl hopped onto it with Topaz following behind her. She looked at the ground and then back to the pale gem.

"Here. I was here before my fight was interrupted." She stated.

Topaz knelt down and placed his hand on the ground. He then looked over to the ship.

"She must have been launched over there." He assumed.

Obsidian looked up to him with a curious gaze.

"What makes you say that?" The tall black gem asked.

Topaz looked down to her.

"While I was fighting Feldspar, I heard the sound of breaking metal and glass, similar to how it was when Tourmaline blew a hole out of the ship. I'm not much of a gambling man but I bet that was from Black Pearl colliding with the outside of the ship." He explained.

Topaz hopped off the small platform and ran towards the ship. The others followed behind, as Topaz noticed a tear in one of the fingers. He jumped into it with the others watching. The hole was right behind him, and the room he looked over was a mess. Pieces of machinery scattered on the floor, broken glass and gemstone littered amongst the the ruined parts, and a few lines of spattered, purple bloodstains on the floor. He examined the trail and saw that the blood couldn't have come from before she was thrown in, it wasn't violently sprayed out. It looked more like it dripped from an open wound or two. What's more is that the blood was just from the imprint of a body on the opposing wall, and the trail led back to the hole. Pearl jumped up behind him with a concerned stare.

"Is she still here?" She asked.

"Nope. But the good news is that she didn't go into the ship to call for backup or whatever." Topaz answered as he stood back up, "But the bad news is that she's long gone. From the looks of it, she might have wandered off to the warp pad.".

"Well that's great. She can be anywhere on the planet now!" Pearl complained.

Topaz held his hands up in a reassuring manner.

"Pearl, Pearl! Don't worry about it! I can find her, I can find anyone!" Topaz assured in a honeyed tone.

Pearl looked at Topaz with a skeptical glare. Trying to not believe his crocodile smile, she kept her cynical doubts her priority when it came to speaking with him.

"Oh really? You truly believe you can find her?" She asked sarcastically.

"I see you have your doubts, but I can assure you that I can find her, two weeks tops. After all, I was able to track Tourmaline down and that boy traveled the globe!" He stated.

Pearl raised an eyebrow at him.

"And I can trust you enough to let you go off on your own?" Pearl asked.

"Pearl, darling, do I look like the type of guy to back out of an agreement?" He asked in a cutesy tone.

Pearl continued to stare at him. Topaz let his arms flop to his side and he stared at Pearl with a loose scowl.

"Alright, enough of this crap. I'm staying with you from now on. Tourmaline's growth is what matters to me, so I'd rather observe him rather than be a rock in a bubble. I'm trying to be nice here so let me go and find this stupid gem!" Topaz said.

Pearl continued to stare at him, eventually breaking the silence.

"Two weeks." She repeated.

Topaz smiled, "All I needed to hear.".

With that, Topaz leaped from the hole and above Garnet's crew and ran to the warp pad. Pearl leaped down to the others and walked over to Garnet.

"He's going to track down Black Pearl." She stated.

"Quite a task he's taking." Sardonyx commented.

"If he's not worried, then I'm not. Now let's get to dismantling this ship." Garnet stated.

/**/

**Time since the battle: Four days**

Outside of the house, various pieces of Homeworld technology were strewn about the beach. Pearl and Tanza were examining the bits and pieces in an attempt to figure out what did what and what things could fit into other things. Sardonyx and Obsidian clashed weapons, grunting and growling as they sparred. Annoyed by the noise, Pearl turned over to the large gems.

"Can't you two do that somewhere else?! I can't even think with all of this banging and booming!" She demanded.

The two large gems looked over to Pearl and loosened up their stances.

"Well where else are we supposed to go do this?" Obsidian asked.

Pearl placed a broken piece of what could be described as a tube of wiring and walked over to the house.

"There's an arena I can let the two of you play in. Just follow me." She suggested.

Sardonyx pushed Obsidian aside and the giant gems followed Pearl back to the house. Meanwhile, on the deck, Steven and Taz were staring out at the sea. Jet, Lapis and Amethyst were sitting with the kids, just trying to be there for them. Although some time passed, both of them were still very shaken up by the incident, especially Steven. Amethyst held the boy under her arm and looked at him with a sympathetic gaze. No matter what she, Garnet or Pearl said, they couldn't get him to stop blaming himself for what happened. Taz was just depressed that her friends were gone. Jet looked up at the cliffside and saw the vague outline of Tourmaline standing at the edge.

"He's still there." She stated.

Lapis looked up at the boy with a curious gaze.

"Is that boy really the son of Jade and Aquamarine?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's true." Taz stated.

Lapis continued to stare up at him.

"_Aqua...Jade...it's hard to believe you're still here, and yet so far away._" She thought to herself.

Jet's eyes strayed and noticed a young, indian girl running across the beach and towards the house.

"Do you know that person?" Jet asked as she pointed to her.

Amethyst looked over to see the same sight as Jet and she grinned.

"Connie!" Amethyst bellowed as she passed Steven to Jet, "Here! Hold him for a second.".

After thrusting Steven into the shy gem's arms, Amethyst leaped off of the deck and landed right in front of Connie, causing her to step back a bit.

"Connie! We need some help! Steven's all bummed out and we don't know how to make him feel better!" Amethyst asked in a panicked tone.

"What's wrong with Steven!? He hasn't answered his cellphone for a while." Connie asked.

Amethyst pinched the brow of her nose and looked back at Connie.

"Okay, here's the gist of it. A bunch of Homeworld gems came to Earth and attacked us there was a huge battle we all got demolished but then Steven returned with some reinforcements then freed us and as we fought the Homeworld baddies this big ugly monster of a gem came in and started tearing us apart killing a few of our friends and now Steven blames himself for their deaths." Amethyst blurted out quickly.

Connie stared on in terrified astonishment.

"You mean...Pearl and Garnet are dead?" She asked.

"What? No! Pearl's over there fiddling with doodads and Garnet's going overtime on missions so we can all gather ourselves and recover from the incident." Amethyst assured her.

"Oh...so who died?" Connie asked.

" A few of our new friends, Ruby, Sapphire and Tanzanite. Steven says he was really close to getting to them in time, but he wasn't fast enough." Amethyst said, "Think you can cheer him up a bit?".

Connie looked up at the depressed little boy with a concerned stare and back at Amethyst with a determined expression. She nodded, and Amethyst grabbed her and jumped back onto the deck. Steven looked over at the purple gem and saw her place his friend down. She presented Connie like a present and Connie stared at her surprised friend.

"Hey Steven! Heeeere's Connie!" Amethyst cheered.

Connie looked at the other gems and was unnerved to see Lapis, but decided not to think about her for now, Steven was the priority. She walked over to Steven and looked into the sad boy's eyes. Jet let Steven go and the boy took Connie by the hand.

"Steven...are you oka-"

Without saying anything, Steven dragged Connie down the stairs and the two children ran across the beach. The gems watched as Steven and Connie ran out of their sight.

"Will he be okay with her?" Lapis asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure his girlfriend will know how to cheer him up." Amethyst stated.

"Steven has a girlfriend?" Jet asked.

"Yep, but I don't think either of them know that yet." Amethyst joked.

Tanza overheard the conversation and put her tools down. She looked up to see Tourmaline still standing like a statue overlooking the beach and ocean. She frowned, but returned to her work. She knows she has to talk to him, but if she does it now, it might cause a scene and the others would crowd him. She'll go to him during the night. She knows that she can't bottle up her worries for him any longer.

/**/

Steven and Connie sat on the warm sand. Steven had just finished telling Connie everything, and he sat scrunched up with his face near his knees. Connie only could muster a sympathetic gaze for her friend.

"Wow I...I don't know what to say." Connie admitted.

"You don't have to say anything. I know I messed up." Steven said coldly.

Connie scowled at that comment.

"No you didn't! You did everything you could!" She argued.

"But it wasn't enough! If I were a bit stronger, I could've saved them...they would still be here." He rebutted.

Connie's expression softened and she slid a bit closer to the sad boy.

"Steven...we all wish we were a little stronger. There are things in life that we wish we could change but we can't. It hurts, it's a nightmare to go through, but we can move past it. We can't let that one moment define who we are. I know you're a caring person who'd do anything for his friends, but sometimes...things happen that are out of our control." Connie stated.

Steven was quiet. Carefully, Connie slowly put her hand on his back.

"Steven, I know you must feel all sorts of things right now, all bad I bet...but you can't let them bring you down and fill you with doubts. You know how it feels to lose someone now, and now you know that you can never let something like this happen again." She said.

Steven was still quiet, but suddenly, he started sobbing. Connie moved in closer and Steven immediately latched onto her. Connie held him for a minute, and the boy looked up at her.

"Connie...I don't know what to do. I'm scared. For friends, for my dad, and for you. If things get worse, I don't know if I can protect you all." He admitted.

Connie pushed Steven back a bit so he could look into his eyes.

"Oh Steven...you shouldn't put everything on your shoulders. We're all in this together." Connie assured him.

Steven stared at Connie's warm expression, and then wiped his eyes. The two of them stood up and the boy averted his eyes to the sea.

"It's just that...my friend Tourmaline...they were his closest friends that died. I'm not sure if he knows it or not, but I feel like he's mad at me for not saving them." He admitted.

"If he's your friend, he wouldn't hold a grudge like that against you." She stated.

Steven looked back at Connie, and for the first time in those four days, he smiled again.

"You know what...you're right! He would never do something like that. But he's still very depressed." He said.

"Have you or any of the gems talked to him?" The small girl asked.

"Nah, I think he wants to be alone." Steven said.

"Well...sometimes it can be like that." She said, "You at least know where he is right?".

Steven nodded.

"You feel better?".

He nodded again.

"Good. Now, about Lapis…".

/**/

Tourmaline was still staring down at the sea. Night time has come, and the twinkling stars and moon illuminated the sea in an array of white light. He still felt empty. It didn't matter if it was day, sunset or night, he couldn't find the joy in viewing such a beautiful sight anymore.

"_How long has it been since I decided to stay here? Staring at the ocean, waves moving at the same tempo every day. They always used to calm me down, to ease my mind...but I know that this is a fruitless act._" He thought as he averted his gaze from the ocean, closing his eyes, "_I could be here for days, months, years, but I never will forget my friends. I will never forget what happened to them. And I will never forgive my incompetence._".

Silently, Tanza walked up the hill, her eyes set on his static frame. She thought hard about what she had to say to him, what she had to do to make him come back to her and the rest of the gang, and she was certain that it would work. It had to work. Slowly, she approached his back.

"Tourmaline...are you ready to talk?" The tall purple gem asked.

Tourmaline opened his eyes and looked back to the ocean.

"There's nothing to talk about." He said solemnly.

Tanza took a step closer to him.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you isolating yourself from everyone? We're here for you. You know this." She said warmly.

Tourmaline looked down to his feet.

"Not all of you." He stated.

Tanza was taken aback from this statement, but she knew that he was still hurting from his loss.

"I know it hurts...but you can't endure this on your own. You always try to put everything on yourself. You can't carry the world on your shoulders alone." She said sympathetically.

"It's my decision to make. The important thing is I keep you safe, and I almost failed entirely. If you hadn't been able to move...you would've been gone to. If I lost you too...I don't know if living life would've been bearable." He admitted.

Tanza took another step towards him.

"You share a different type of love for all of us, right?" She asked.

Tourmaline nodded.

"And you value me as your partner, your true lover?" She asked.

He nodded again, and Tanza's worried expression turned sorrowful.

"Then why won't you look at me? Why are you shunning me away?" She asked, tearing up.

Tourmaline took a step closer to the edge.

"I can't face you anymore. I can't face any of them anymore. When I look down at them, all I can see is Ruby, Sapphire and Tanzanite's faces. I know they aren't there, I know things will never be the same, and it's my fault." The young man answered.

Tanza took another step towards him, the boy almost within her reach. Everything he said about her deceased friends was true, and the truth hurt like a knife being slid into her back, but she didn't blame him for what happened, and no one else does either. Tears still in her eyes, she mustered up a smile for him.

"You did everything you could, and in the end you saved the rest of us. You're a good gem Tourmaline." She said warmly.

"I'm a weakling. A weakling who can't even muster up the strength to defend his friends, who had to use the pain and rage of losing them to win." Tourmaline choked.

Tanza tightened one of her hands into a fist and brought it to her bosom, her smile fading away and the tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

"Tourmaline of the crystal gems is many things but he is no weakling!" She said sternly, turning to the side and looking away from Tourmaline.

Tourmaline turned around to see the side of her face. A bit of her hair obscured her eye, but he could already paint the pained expression from the frown and tears alone.

"He is no weakling, he's a man who risks everything to protect those he cares about. He's the man that I love." Tanza said.

Tourmaline took a step closer to her, but on the next step, he hesitated, and turned back around. She looked back in time to see him turning back, but missed seeing his face again. She stepped over to him, now right behind him, and looked down at her lover.

"Tourmaline...please. Come back home, let us help you. Let the others help you cope with the feelings, and help you so you can move on." She pleaded.

The tan boy heaved a sigh.

"I can't." He admitted.

Suddenly, he felt her arms wrap around his chest, her breasts pressed against his back, and her face pressed against the back of his neck. Tanza had sunken onto her knees, the tears still flowing from her eyes.

"Please! If not for them then at least for me! Taz is miserable, and everyone else is off finding their own ways to cope! I never felt so alone in my life, but I still have the strength to move throughout the day! If I can do it, you can-" She desperately pleaded before cutting herself short.

She felt his gentle touch on her arms. She forgot the sensation of his touch, and smiled, glad that she finally got through to him. But her smile soon faded as she felt Tourmaline pull her arms off of him. Her grip loosened, and her arms then slumped to her sides. She got off of Tourmaline and stood back up, dumbfounded by this display. Tourmaline walked back over to the edge.

"You're far stronger than me if you have the strength to move on now." He admitted, "Leave me be.".

Tanza stood in disbelief, and then grit her teeth at the boy.

"Fine! Stay here and wallow in your self pity you miserable bastard!" She screamed.

She took a step back and covered her mouth. Her frustration and sadness had risen to a boil and unleashed a horrible insult she never even dreamed of saying. She slowly reached for his shoulder.

"Tourmaline please, I didn't mean-"

Her fingers touched his shoulder, and the boy brushed them away. Tanza stood in shock of what she did, but then ran away from Tourmaline with a soft cry.

"_How could I...How could I have been so selfish!? Why did I have to go so far!?_" She blamed in her head.

Meanwhile, Tourmaline stared on at the ocean with a destroyed expression. He had just driven away his lover, now the most important person in his life, because of his own cowardice and anger with himself.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to himself.

/**/

**Time since battle: Ten Days**

Black Pearl was wandering a field of tulips, then crouching down to pick a particular one that caught her attention. Their vibrant colors of blue, red, yellow and pink made her feel at ease. Her wounds had healed a few days ago, but she didn't want to leave this place. Such a pretty sight and lovely smells were foreign to the Homeworld, and she knew that she would not be going back there anytime soon. If she were the one to say the mission was a catastrophic failure, the moment more troops come to Earth and pick her up, they'll execute her. Yellow Diamond barely tolerated failure from her highest commanders, she doubted that she would receive that same type of mercy. Besides, she had little reason to leave. At the edge of the flower fields there was a large forest where she could hide out. It was a dark area as the tree's thick foliage blocked out nearly all sunlight, and she already made a home with her webbing. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep her out of the weather and rest. And the best part is that the Earth gems had no idea where she was.

"Hello there." A mysterious voice spoke behind her.

Black Pearl's eyes widened and she slowly looked over her shoulder to see a pale gem wielding twin sai. She stood up and turned around to face the stranger. Topaz grinned at the cautious gem, satisfied at the sight of her.

"Fooound yoou!" He hummed.

Black Pearl slid her foot back and slowly assumed a steady stance. She didn't want to appear to be ready to fight yet, but she wanted to be in a position where she could dodge or attack if needed. Topaz extended his hand outward and held up one finger, still gripping his sai, and waved it back and forth.

"Ah ah ah! No need to get defensive just yet. I'd rather talk with you first." Topaz stated.

Black Pearl continued to glare at him.

"Now now cherry, no need to scowl like that. I'll tell you what, if you answer one of my questions, I'll answer one of yours. I'll even let you go first! Come on now, let's be rational." He offered.

Black Pearl continued to glare at him, but relaxed her stance.

"Alright then. Why did you go through the trouble of finding me?" Black Pearl asked.

Topaz's arm slumped to his side.

"There we go. I was just tying one final loose end from our team's little...excursion. Considering that not finding the original Homeworld gems sparked these events, it was well advised to make sure you wouldn't cause anymore trouble." He explained.

She couldn't fault him. Nothing wrong with being thorough.

"Now then. Why did you leave the ship immediately instead of trying to contact the Homeworld?" Topaz asked.

"There was no point in calling them over. Eventually they'll figure out something went wrong. Either way, I would be killed if they ever find me." She answered.

Topaz found the answer hard to believe, but considering the people he has encountered in his life, it wasn't too farfetched.

"Now you have found me...what do you plan on doing with me?" She asked with cold eyes.

Topaz shrugged.

"Bring you back to the others. Need some form of proof that I got you. And from there, we can talk about what to do with you. I can vouch that you're neutral now. And I can grab a few votes from other friends, so long as you come quietly." Topaz offered.

Black Pearl scowled at the offer. She did not want to be a prisoner now that she has tasted freedom.

"So, why would the Homeworld gems want to destroy you?" He asked.

"Because I'm "defective". My gem is slightly deformed, and thus I was deemed unfit for any gem activity. If it weren't for Feldspar, I would have been destroyed long ago." Black Pearl explained, "Not to mention that I'm most likely going to take the fall for the failure.".

Topaz blinked at the mention of Feldspar.

"Alright then, I think this will be my last question. Did you kill Feldspar?" She asked.

Topaz scowled at the gem.

"_Ooooh crap this is not going to end well. I could lie...but it's probably for the best that I let her know the truth. She's gonna learn eventually._" He thought.

"If you heard the insane crap she spouted out you would've done the same." Topaz said coldly.

Black Pearl reeled back from his answer and gnashed her teeth at the gem. Topaz smiled warmly, trying to present a safe image for the gem, but he knew it was to no avail.

"Okay, last question from me. Are you going to come quietly, or am I going to have to force you to come with me?" Topaz asked sadistically.

The limbs from Black Pearl's torso left her torso area and extended outwards. All six of her sharp, spider-like limbs were held out in a menacing position. Topaz spun his sai around his fingers and grinned maliciously.

"Seems that we're going with option B." He joked.

Black Pearl let out a hissing yell and charged towards the cocky gem. She thrust her top pair of legs at him and he ducked under them. Her bottom pair scraped through the flowers and charged towards his frame. Topaz smirked and rolled to the side, stopping on one knee. He looked up to see her middle legs already held up. She slammed both down and Topaz thrust one of his sai into the leg and the other underneath his arm and towards the side of her stomach. Black Pearl leaped back from the attack and faced the smiling gem. He slowly stood up, staring his opponent down, analyzing her very thoughts through the mere look in her eyes.

"Good reaction time. Interesting strategy with your limbs. Feldspar teach you that?" He asked.

"I'm done with your questions you bastard!" She yelled.

"Hey now, I thought we we're above the shouting." He said cheerfully as he started to spin his sai.

"You're right. We're above shouting and we moved right up to the death match." She hissed.

Topaz began to spin his sai faster, causing them to make a whirring noise and start to glow.

"You happen to see Tourmaline in action?" He asked.

Black Pearl blinked at the question. She couldn't forget that boy. His battle with Jasper was magnificent. If Feldspar didn't pull the plug on it, he would've won hands down. Such confidence and strength, it was a rare sight to see. Black Pearl nodded and Topaz laughed.

"Ahahaha! That boy knows how to move. Sure he learned quite a few new tricks from his new friends, but I know for a fact he never forgot the basics his teacher taught him." He boasted.

That last bit sent an ominous shiver down Black Pearl's spine. Who mentions something like that without referring to themselves? But if he was above Tourmaline's ability, she would've been hit by that last attack. Something wasn't right.

"Are you saying that-".

"Yes. I'm Tourmaline's teacher." He said confidently.

He brought the sai together and the collision created a massive flash of light. Black Pearl's eyes burned instantly and she quickly shut them and covered her face. She was careless, and now she was at his mercy. She waited, anticipating the death blow, but it never came. Was he savoring the moment? Getting into position to stab her gem? She wanted to open her eyes so badly, but her eyes still stung from the flash. A full minute went by and nothing happened. Black Pearl finally moved her arms from her face and opened her eyes. Everything had a bright white bloom on it, but that soon faded and she saw that Topaz disappeared. Black Pearl stood in astonishment. He had the perfect opportunity to attack her, but he didn't. Was all his talk early just a bluff? But even an idiot would know when to take an opportunity to end an enemy when it presents itself.

"_Well that was...odd._" She thought.

"Peekaboo." His voice whispered behind her back.

Before she could turn around, she felt a sharp pain in her back. Topaz thrust his knee into her gem and she fell forward a few feet. Black Pearl grit her teeth and used her legs to stop herself from falling over. She turned around to see him lunging forward. Arms thrust backwards and ready to be plunged down. She leaped away from the attack and started hopping back with her bottom pair of legs.

"_So he didn't leave. He isn't a coward, he's just fucking with me!_" She thought.

Topaz quickly dashed to her side and stopped behind her. Black Pearl thrust her three left spider-like legs back at him. Topaz quickly sidestepped the attack, but the legs still managed to cut his face, chest and stomach lightly. He wrapped his arm around the three extended legs and then jumped back, yanking his opponent with him. He let go of the legs and taking his open palm, he shoved Black Pearl's head forward. She stumbled forward as Topaz stepped in front of her. He turned around and punched her in the nose, dropping his sai then following up with a couple jabs to her chest. Black Pearl grunted from the pain, and Topaz kicked her left leg from under her, causing her to fall down. He quickly swerved his leg back and kneed her in the chin, lifting her back onto her feet. He slapped her, causing her to spin around and he roundhouse kicked her right in the area where her gem was, causing her to fall forward again. As she fell, he leaped back for his sai. Black Pearl fell on her face but quickly rolled back onto her back. She scowled at the grinning gem, and Topaz continued to stare at the enraged gem.

"_Feisty little minx aren't ya? But don't worry, I may kick your ass a bit but I think I'll leave you in tact for the others. Might as well turn over a new leaf here. Besides, if you fit in with the others, you might make a nice friend for Tourmaline. After all, you act like he did way back when._" He thought in a monologue.

Black Pearl slowly got to her feet. She let her back legs slink behind her body and start spinning out webbing from her gem. She held her arms and extra appendages out in a threatening display. Topaz grin faded into a smirk as he looked on at the display.

"_Guess he's finally taking me seriously. Well, kind of._" She thought.

"_She thinks she's intimidating. That's just adorable._" He thought.

Topaz started walking over towards her.

"Okay, we had our fun but I think it's obvious who won here. So why don't we just take a deep breath, calm down and go back to the crystal gems' base and we can all just-" The pale gem offered.

Black Pearl flung her back legs forward and slinged the thick threads at Topaz. Before he could respond, the two sticky things latched onto his body. His smile faded and he looked down, perplexed by the mystery gunk. The dark gem grinned as her yellow eyes glistened with satisfaction. She violently raked her fingers against the threads and the resulting vibrations surged through Topaz's body, causing a massive amount of pain. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, she yanked the webbing back and Topaz came flying at her. He was coming in at a high angle, so she aimed her mid and top pairs of legs at him, ready to skewer her. She was thrust her legs forward, but Topaz flipped midair, throwing his arms out to grab the first pair of legs as the lower pair scraped his back. Black Pearl stood, perplexed by acrobatic display.

"What!?" She uttered.

As that word left her mouth, she felt Topaz's head slam into hers. She grit her teeth in pain and released a painful yell. She fell to her back and Topaz quickly ran over to her, her webbing now completely wrapped around his body. Topaz grabbed her leg and flipped her on her front by lifting the leg up and then thrusting it forward. He then quickly jumped onto her back, pressing himself against her. She scoffed at the sudden mounting, but Topaz quickly wrapped his arm around her neck in a chokehold and pressed the tip of his sai against her gem. Black Pearl wriggled and squirmed to get out from underneath him, but the movements stopped as Topaz squeezed her neck tighter. He placed his head next to hers and looked at her face, which was somewhat obscured by the tulips. She stared back with a violent glare.

"Look, I'm trying really hard to not lose it like I used to. I don't want to kill you, I don't even want to make you go back in your gem, but you are making this very, VERY difficult!" He admitted, "So why don't you relax, calm down, and come with me so I don't have to do something I'm surprisingly going to regret?".

Black Pearl grit her teeth at the pale gem, but as she looked into his blood red eyes, she sensed a bit of sincerity. Something says he could be trusted, not that she had much of a choice now. She seethed for a bit, but calmed herself down. If anything, she could try to make a run for the forest. She took a deep breath, and exhaled.

"Okay. I'll go with you. Now please get off of me." Black Pearl requested.

"'Kay, just make the threads go away." He requested.

Black Pearl felt a shiver go down her spine. If she made these threads go away, what would happen to the other threads in the forest? Her home and his trap would be finished.

"If you're worried about that little hideout you made in the forest, don't' bother. That's child's play for me to dodge and infiltrate." He said.

Black Pearl looked at him with a surprised expression.

"What!? How did you find out about that!?" She exclaimed.

"I checked the forest's edge while you were stunned by the flash. What? You thought I just stood there and waited for you to recover?" He explained, "But that's not the reason I want you do make them vanish. I'm stuck to you right now and I doubt either of us want to see the others in this awkward position.".

Black Pearl stared back at him, deadpan. He was one step ahead of her. With no other choice, her gem glowed and the threads around them vanished. He let go of her neck and removed the sai from her gem. He helped the slightly smaller gem up and started brushing her off. He finished with brushing his small bloodstains off of her back and then placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. She calmly looked at his warm smile.

"Now let's go to your new home!" He announced.

Black Pearl grumbled but nodded in agreement. Topaz walked ahead and Black Pearl glared at him. She was tempted to attack him with his back turned, but if she screwed up, he could retreat and bring back reinforcements. If he found her here, he could find her anywhere. So she begrudgingly followed him to the warp pad. The two stood on the pad and a large light engulfed the two of them.

"Alright, before we go there, I have to pick something up for Tourmaline." Topaz said.

Black Pearl looked over to Topaz.

"Can't you drop me off first?" She asked.

"Nah. I'd rather stick around for a bit instead of leaving you to the dogs. Besides, we can spend this time to get to know each other a bit." He said warmly.

/**/

**Time since battle: Twelve days**

The gems were gathered in the living room. Taz was sitting on Tanza's lap, with Steven sitting next to them. Lapis was standing next to Sardonyx and Obsidian while the crystal gems were around the island. Jet was no where to be seen. Taz and Tanza were starting to feel a bit better, but they both worried about Tourmaline. Pearl was focused on a piece of technology. She fiddled around inside with a small needle to see the different parts inside of it. Amethyst and Garnet watched the white gem work.

"You got that thing figured out yet Pearl?" Amethyst asked.

"I'm barely understanding anything about this. It might be some sort of energy cell, but I can't entirely be sure. Maybe if I could craft a small machine and see if it could be powered by-"

Pearl cut her sentence short when the warp pad lit up. All eyes were on it, and when the light dispersed, they saw Topaz standing with a brown paper bag and Black Pearl. The gems stared in astonishment at the sight of the small dark gem, with Amethyst scowling at her, remembering the incident at the beach. Pearl placed the technology down and stood up.

"Wow...you really did it." Pearl said, amazed.

Black Pearl nudged Topaz.

"They look a little less angry then you said they were going to be." She whispered to him.

"Just say what we agreed on and I'll back you up." He assured her.

Black Pearl took a step forward.

"My name is Black Pearl. I know my, "allies" " She said in air quotes, "Have done some very terrible things to you, and I regret everything that happened to you. I had no idea about Pyrite and zero idea that Feldspar was an insane rebel who wanted to kill every single gem but her and Pyrite. I have severed all ties with the Homeworld, mainly because if I went back to them, they would scrap me because I'm a defective and expendable pearl who failed her mission.".

Pearl's eye twitched at the last sentence. Even though she was very skeptical of her speech, she could relate to the label of defective.

"I wish to start over here as I have no other options. So please allow me to stay here and I promise I'll do what I have to do to help around in any way." She requested.

Amethyst jumped out of her chair and drew her whip.

"No way! She snapped my neck!" She shouted.

Topaz stepped between the two gems.

"I have been told she has done some...violent things to you, and somewhat to Pearl, but she's sorry about that. It was the only viable option to take at the time." Topaz said as he stepped aside to show her, "Look at her, she's not gonna do anything malicious anymore.".

Black Pearl shyly stepped forward and the other gems looked at her. Steven got off of the couch and approached Black Pearl. Amethyst grabbed the young boy and glared at her again. Steven wriggled out of the purple gem's grip and walked over to her. Black Pearl stared down at the boy and then crouched down to his level. She stared into his eyes and he stared back. Then Steven raised his hand and placed it on her face. The other gems stared at the odd display for a short amount of time.

"Is this a human thing?" Black Pearl asked.

"Yeah I'm not going to lie, I'm just as lost as you are." Topaz stated.

Steven nodded his head and looked back at the other gems.

"She's okay in my book." Steven proudly stated.

The other gems shrugged and Amethyst gasped.

"But...Steven! She hurt me! Doesn't that make you mad at her!?" Amethyst complained.

"Well you hurt Pearl once and I don't hate you for it." Steven said.

Amethyst opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn't think of a good rebuttal to that. She crossed her arms and looked to the side.

"Fine...she can stay." Amethyst surrendered.

"I'm fine with this." Garnet said.

"If she's serious, then it's good." Tanza said.

"I don't care." Obsidian stated.

Topaz smiled.

"Well good! Now where is Tourmaline?" He asked.

The others felt uncomfortable and looked at each other. Topaz sighed.

"Good grief is he still down in the dumps?" He asked.

Tanza nodded.

"Well I guess it's time for me to talk to him." Topaz said as he walked outside.

Tanza looked over at him.

"With all due respect, I talked to him a while ago and I believe if I couldn't have snapped him out of it, I don't think you'll have a better chance." She doubted.

Topaz shot a skeptical look at the tall purple gem.

"Oh I'm sorry how long have you known Tourmaline? A little less than six centuries?" He sarcastically asked.

Tanza pouted and looked away. Topaz smiled confidently and had his hand on the door.

"Wait a minute! I thought you said you were going to be here for me as a way to help me get used to the other gems!" Black Pearl protested.

Topaz looked back at her.

"Everyone's cool with you, so don't worry about it!" He cheerfully exclaimed.

With that, Topaz walked out of the door, leaving Black Pearl with the rest of the group. All eyes were on the nervous gem again. Steven stood next to her and smiled, trying to make her feel comfortable. Black Pearl nodded at Steven and then walked over to Amethyst.

"I guess this bears repeating so...sorry I sort of killed you." She apologized.

Amethyst narrowed her eyes at the black gem. The two just stared at each other for a bit.

"_Aaaaand I made it awkward._" Black Pearl thought.

/**/

Jet stared up at Tourmaline's frame displayed against the starlit sky. She was very worried about him. She had been ever since day one. She knows exactly what he's going through, she knows every little painful detail that worms it's way into a person's mind, but she couldn't find the courage to go up next to him and talk to him. She was frustrated with herself, but she still stood watch over him.

"Guessed he would be here." A man's sleek voice said.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Topaz's grinning face. She turned to face him as he walked over to Tourmaline.

"Go back home Jet, I brought a new friend over. Go introduce yourself to her. I'll take care of Tourmaline." He said.

Jet stood for a bit, but nodded. She walked down the hill and Topaz kept walking up. Tourmaline was lost in thought. He was still shaken up by Tanza's outburst, but he couldn't talk to her about it. He didn't feel ready, and he felt hurt by her last words. He looked over and saw Topaz sitting cross legged with a brown paper bag. Topaz grinned at him and patted the grass next to him.

"How about you have a seat Tourmaline? I bet you've been standing for quite a while now." He offered.

Tourmaline stared at his old friend with curiosity, and relented to his offer by sitting beside him. He sat with his legs crossed and looked up at the sky.

"It's not exactly the right time to call it the clear sky after a hurricane, but the stars do look beautiful tonight, don't they?" Topaz commented.

"Why are you here Topaz? Didn't the others tell you to leave me alone?" He stated.

Topaz started ruffling through the paper bag.

"Yes they did, but you know me. Not one to really listen to others all that well. Besides, all I want to do is share a drink or two." He said.

Tourmaline looked at the bag and saw Topaz pull out two glasses. And then he saw him pull out a case of Midas Touch beer. The pack contained four glass bottles. The pale gem reached for two, opening both with his thumb and pouring the individual bottles into their respective cups. Tourmaline watched as the amber liquid filled the round glasses, a thin layer of fizz forming at the top. The glasses had been filled, and Topaz put the empty bottles back in the case. He took one glass and handed the other to Tourmaline. Tourmaline stared at the glass for a second, but then took it out of the gem's hand. He stared at the glass as Topaz took a sip.

"You remember this brand don't you? This has been around for ages. The very first human brew we ever tried out. Surprised it hasn't been forgotten, considering how long it's been out." Topaz reminisced.

Tourmaline continued to look at the glass, but then took a swig. He felt the velvety fluid slosh around in his mouth, it's sweet grape flavor flooding his mind, and the hint of honey hitting him next. He swallowed the drink and looked down at it again.

"Not bad, but still not as good as I remember." He admitted.

"Yes yes I know, but it's enough to bring back some good memories. Training you to be a fighter, making you learn about the ugly truth of the world, and every mission that we went on from the night I picked you up as a bean sprout and left you in the winter to go off on your own not too long ago." The pale gem recollected.

"Mn. So where have you been all this time?" Tourmaline asked.

Topaz took another sip.

"I've tracked down the last Homeworld gem and brought her here." He stated.

Tourmaline looked at Topaz with a surprised expression.

"You...you just brought her here?" The boy asked.

"Yes, after a bit of a struggle. She was pretty serious, but in all honesty it was quite fun. It was a pretty nostalgic moment overall. She reminds me of you when you were a little brat." Topaz joked.

Tourmaline looked forward, tempted to laugh at his comment, but remembered the seriousness of the situation.

"She...her kind is responsible for the deaths of my friends." He said coldly.

Topaz looked over to Tourmaline and glared.

"Pyrite was responsible for that. Black Pearl had nothing to do with that freak." He stated.

Tourmaline let out a soft groan.

"A while ago, when I first freed you from that bubble, you mentioned something about your friends being blasted away by a cannon shot in a gem war. Care to explain that bit to me?" Tourmaline asked.

"Didn't I explain it well enough?" He asked.

"You seemed to just skim through it." Tourmaline argued.

Topaz looked back at his drink with a somber expression.

"Have I ever told you how old I am?" He asked.

"I never asked so no." Tourmaline stated.

"Eight-thousand years." Topaz said bluntly.

Tourmaline just stared at him.

"You see a lot of things in a timespan like that. Friends, enemies, discoveries, wars, the list goes on. Thousands of years ago, there was a war for Earth. Two sides, the Homeworld and Rose's troops. I was on the Homeworld's team. I didn't really have a choice. I wouldn't turn on my friends, even if the cause I was fighting for felt wrong. Needless to say, they all choose the wrong side. One moment they were there, the next, they were gone. Just like with your friends. I panicked and fled the battlefield after that. I couldn't go back to the Homeworld a deserter, and I knew for a fact any of Rose's allies would have destroyed me. So I hid away, cursing the humans of Earth for the cause of my grief, as they were the only things I could fight. I moved from town to town, country to country, killing whoever disgusted me as some way to cope. Then you came into the picture and well...you know the rest." Topaz explained.

Tourmaline looked away from Topaz slowly and then took a small sip from his beer, trying to process the information.

"So I guess I took her in as a sign of pity. If I left her be, she may have just walked the same path I have. So even though I didn't show it to her, I gave her my everything." He admitted.

Tourmaline smirked. Topaz looked over to the boy and felt happy himself. In all his years, he never saw the boy genuinely smile like that, even during their last meeting.

"Just like me. You never let me win a sparring match." He said warmly.

Topaz grinned with a loving stare.

"That's because I knew that someday, you'd be strong enough to beat me." Topaz admitted.

Tourmaline looked back at Topaz with a curious expression.

"Even now you're still just a kid compared to most of us, and yet you have so much power already. I sensed your potential long ago, and I'm sure your new teacher...Garnet was it? I'm sure she has seen it numerous times. You've grown far stronger than I could have possibly-".

"No, I haven't." Tourmaline blurted out.

Topaz's grin faded into a melancholy stare.

"I don't have enough power. I didn't even have enough to protect those who were closest to me. All this time I thought that being with my friends had made me stronger. But now that they're gone...I realize how weak I truly am." Tourmaline lamented.

Topaz continued to stare at Tourmaline with his concerned stare. He turned back to his drink and polished it off. He then reached for a fresh one.

"Remember what I told you a long time ago?" The pale gem asked as he opened the bottle.

Tourmaline was silent as he stared down at the ocean.

"I told you that in a battle, there are no rules. There is no slacking, there is no miserable death. A soldier fights with all of his might to the very end. If he puts in his all, then even if he dies, he knows that he made at least some kind of difference. He fights for his other men, knowing that they will die someday. Some are destined to die earlier than others, and this is a fact that a soldier must accept. No matter how great they might be, someone else can easily take them down in one single, life changing second." Topaz lectured as he poured his drink.

Tourmaline continued to look out, letting out a quiet mumble.

"You and your friends fought with all your might, knowing that they might die that day, right?" Topaz asked.

Tourmaline nodded.

"Well there you go. So don't blame yourself. Don't hate yourself. You gave it your all to fight and defend your friends, but in one moment it wasn't enough. There are moments that we are unprepared for in life, and it's those moments that can take everything away from us. The only person to blame for their deaths is Pyrite, not you. Your friends are gone Tourmaline, and no matter how much you attack yourself, it will not change what happened that day." Topaz said.

Tourmaline slouched as he finished the last of his drink.

"So what do you expect me to do?" The boy asked.

Topaz looked over to his student with a stern expression.

"Accept their deaths and know that you did everything you could to save everyone." Topaz stated.

Tourmaline looked forward, "And how can I do that?".

"You still have plenty of friends down there waiting for you. If you stay here, you're abandoning them. Don't turn back on what you have left Tourmaline. Stand up on your feet and walk forward with them to the future, and leave your darkened past behind." Topaz stated.

Tourmaline's eyes widened at the answer. Tanza, Taz, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Obsidian, Sardonyx, Jet, and Steven. They're all he has left now. He couldn't just leave them on their own. He wanted to be with them again, but he couldn't let the pain he was feeling interfere with his relationships with them. Maybe he had been acting foolish this whole time. But it was something he had to do. And now that he has done it, it was time for him to come back. Tourmaline stood up and grabbed the last brew from the carton. He popped it open and chugged the whole thing in one giant gulp. Topaz looked on in mild surprise as Tourmaline chucked the bottle into the paper bag. Tourmaline looked back at Topaz with a determined expression.

"Let me ask you one thing Topaz...does it ever stop hurting?" He asked.

Topaz gulped his drink down. He took the used up bottles and carton and put it back in the bag. He stood up and looked at Tourmaline.

"It doesn't. You just notice the pain less and less each passing day." Topaz answered solemnly.

Tourmaline looked back down at the ocean, with the star and moonlight dancing on the water's surface. He wasn't sure what it was about it, but for some reason this night, he felt content. He turned around and started walking down the hill.

"Thanks...Topaz." He said.

Topaz turned around and started walking to him.

"Tourmaline...what is your dream?" Topaz asked.

Tourmaline stopped and looked back to Topaz, who was still walking towards him.

"My dream? I...never really gave it much thought." He admitted.

"I see. Well I know one thing is certain, you won't find your dream by standing at that edge like a statue. Go out into the world with your comrades and find something that you can call your dream, then this pain will start to fade away into the back of your head." Topaz spoke.

Tourmaline looked to the stars and then back down the hill. Topaz stood next to him, and the two started walking down together.

"_My dream, huh?_" He thought to himself.

/**/

Tourmaline and Topaz stood outside the door. Tourmaline was right in front of it, but hesitant to open it. He looked back at Topaz, then turning away from the door and towards him.

"Tourmaline...are you ready to walk towards the future with your friends?" He asked.

Tourmaline was silent with an unsure look on his face. He peeked through the window to see everyone staring at him and Topaz through the window and door. He looked back to Topaz with a determined look and nodded. He turned towards the door, grabbed the handle, and pushed it open, ready to accept his new life, and see what the future had in store for him.


	29. Chapter 29: Past Failures

Chapter 29: Past Failures

Pearl wiped her brow as she fiddled with the insides of her new invention. While messing with the spare parts of the ship Garnet and the others brought her, with the help of Black Pearl, she managed to create what she hoped to be a new cannon. It had a singular barrel like a revolver's, but it was also thinner with a thicker base for charging up deadly shots. She had a rough idea of what to do with the parts she was given, as Black Pearl had been a surprisingly useful asset to her. She wasn't an inventor by any means, but she had enough knowledge to identify specific parts of machinery. Pearl tied two wires together and then closed the panel shut. She peeked her head over the other at the other side.

"Is your end okay Tanza?" She called out.

Tanza poked her head from the other side of the base, staring at Pearl with a satisfied smile.

"Everything checks out here!" She called out.

Pearl heaved a sigh of relief and turned towards the house. Garnet, Amethyst, Taz and Steven were looking down at them with approving smiles. The rest of the gang had disappeared earlier that day to do various things. Obsidian and Sardonyx were continuing their training, Jet took Black Pearl to explore parts of Beach city, and Tourmaline and Topaz wandered off to train. It had been a week since Tourmaline had come back to them, but he wasn't exactly all there. He wasn't his cheerful self again, despite the others efforts to make it so. His depression still had a hold of him, but at least it didn't consume him like it did before. She shook the thought away and turned back to Tanza.

"You ready to fire a test round?" She asked.

Tanza's hands were already in the control panel. The green and white lights flooding through her eyes as she manipulated the machine.

"Already there." Tanza stated.

The machine started to hum and glow. A light of green energy started to surge through the barrel as it charged up it's first round. The audience on the decks stared in anticipation for their new weapon to fire. It continued to charge up, but suddenly the control panel sparked and cracked. Tanza yelped in pain as she pulled away from the malfunctioning thing and Pearl looked at the base to see it nearly engulfed in electricity leaking out of newly formed cracks. The barrel imploded and collapsed onto the beach and into the sea. And with that, the now broken machine was silent. Amethyst started clapping and whooping for Pearl.

"Woo! Good job Pearl! It broke after ten seconds this time!" She taunted.

Pearl groaned as she and Tanza went to pick up the remaining pieces of their invention.

"I just don't understand. The design should be fine, so why does it keep breaking?" She asked.

Tanza picked up a chunk of the exterior shell.

"I don't know. Maybe Black Pearl might have an idea." She suggested.

As Pearl grabbed a few bits of burnt wires and mechanical chips and wiring, she noticed Jet and Black Pearl returning with a small box of some kind. Black Pearl held a powdered donut in her hand. Pearl placed the parts in a neat pile, separating them to be more organized, and walked over to the two black gems.

"So these...donuts...are they the only type of sweets the humans have?" Black Pearl asked.

"No, there are plenty of others of many different varieties." Jet stated.

"And why are they called sweets?" Black Pearl added.

"Take a bite and you'll see." Jet dared with a smile.

Black Pearl shrugged and bit into the donut. Her eyes went wide as the sugary sweet filled her mouth, and then the fruity taste of jelly taking over. She smiled as she chewed the last bit and swallowed it. She had a bit of powder around her lips still.

"I get it now!" She laughed as she stook another bite.

Jet smiled and then Pearl made it in front of the two gems. Both stopped in their tracks, with Black Pearl finishing off her treat.

"Hi Pearl. I take it the crystal chariot didn't work again?" Jet asked.

"What gave you that idea?" Pearl asked sarcastically.

"The sound of something blowing up instead of a laser noise." The timid gem answered.

Pearl heaved a sigh and then looked to Black Pearl.

"What am I doing wrong?" She asked.

Black Pearl opened the box to reveal more donuts. She grabbed a brown one with blue spots as she answered Pearl.

"As I said before, these are parts for completely different types of machinery than what you are making. The cannons the ships had were in very bad shape so you'd have to improvise with other pieces of the ship. You said, "you got it", and we left it at that because naming what gizmo or doodad did what was the best I could do." Black Pearl explained as she turned back to Jet, "So you said that this was blueberry right?".

"Well you said that you worked with Feldspar for some decades right? Surely you know more than this." Pearl proclaimed.

"Well I don't. I just grabbed the parts for her and let her do the rest. Now if I were you, I would go back and gather the rest of your parts and try again." The black gem suggested.

"She means that with sincerity. After all I think the waves are taking away some of the parts." Jet added.

Pearl's tired expression turned wide eyed as she dashed back to the rest of the wreckage. Jet let out a giggle as Black Pearl bit into the new donut, letting out a happy hum.

"Mmm it's even better than the last one." She declared.

Suddenly, Amethyst appeared in front of them, creating a small cloud of dust from her descent. The two gems stared at the irritated purple gem with confusion.

"Uhh, hello Ame-" Black Pearl started.

Amethyst immediately grabbed the box from Jet and continued glaring at Black Pearl.

"You can live in my house and be with my friends, but you don't get to eat my food." She said menacingly.

"But...I paid for that so technically it's mine." Jet said.

Amethyst shot a glare at Jet.

"Don't throw your semantics at me. She still owes me." Amethyst stated.

Black Pearl frowned at her.

"Oh Amethyst stop being such a baby. It was a battle, I'm sure you would've done the same to me." Black Pearl stated.

Amethyst looked back at her with a frustrated, pouty face.

"Well...yeah...well...you owe me a lot of donuts!" Amethyst shouted.

"And why's that?" The spider-like gem asked.

"To fill in the holes you put in me." Amethyst said before she ran back to the house, "Peace loser!".

Jet extended her hand out to Amethyst.

"Amethyst wait I didn't get...mine...yet." Her shouts turning to a whisper.

Black Pearl pouted at the rude gesture of the small purple gem. She gave the rest of her food to Jet and walked over to the patio. Jet followed her friend and the two of them made it to the deck with the others. The two black gems stood next to Garnet.

"Sorry about the donuts. Amethyst is still...coping to you being here." The tall gem stated.

"It's been nearly a month." Black Pearl stated.

"She's kind of slow to adapt." Garnet said.

Jet moved over next to Steven and Taz.

"So where are the others?" Jet asked.

"Obsidian and Sardonyx are at the sky temple training." Taz answered.

"And Tourmaline and Topaz are off training somewhere else." Steven added.

Black Pearl looked at the children with a confused look.

"Why would Tourmaline need to train? Isn't he the one who destroyed Pyrite?" She asked.

"Only after we all whittled her down." A familiar female voice stated.

The group looked up to see Lapis fluttering down to the deck.

"Hi Lapis!" Steven greeted.

"Where were you?" Garnet asked.

Lapis landed next to Steven and Jet.

"Just scoping out the planet. Flying is the only real natural thing I can do since you're not letting me use my powers with the ocean." Lapis explained.

"We don't need the mayor freaking out over you playing with the ocean." Garnet stated.

"Since when do you care about what the mayor thinks?" Jet asked.

"I don't. It's just annoying when he bothers us." The tall gem stated.

Taz giggled a bit.

"Anyway, Tourmaline's training so that if something on the level of Pyrite shows up again, he'll be ready. Also he's training Topaz because he's pretty weak, at least compared to us." The small blue gem added.

The comment saddened Black Pearl a bit. The fact that she was beaten by the near runt of the litter was pretty embarrassing. But she shook off the thought as the warp pad's light shone brightly through the windows of Steven's house. The others walked inside, leaving Pearl and Tanza to the machine and saw Amethyst talking to Obsidian and Sardonyx. The two had just gotten back from their training and were bruised up. Amethyst offered the treats she stole from Jet to them but both declined. The giant ladies walked over to the couch and took a seat. Steven and Taz were the first ones to get to them. They greeted the kids with warm smiles.

"Hey there kids. How're things going here?" Obsidian asked.

Steven sat next to Obsidian.

"Pearl's machine blew up again." He stated.

"She still hasn't figured it out yet?" Sardonyx asked.

Taz shrugged.

"She's making progress, what little there may be." She commented.

"Well she better make more and fast. I might be getting buffer, but that doesn't mean I wanna fight a war ship." Obsidian joked.

Jet walked over and squeezed her friend's muscular arm.

"You seem to be the same to me." The small grey gem commented.

Obsidian shrugged her off.

"Well I can't just make my arm's bigger just because I've gotten stronger. They're huge enough as they are. Any bigger and I'd look ridiculous." The giant black gem said, "Besides my skills with my hammer and fire are improving in strides. I might even one up Garnet.".

Garnet chuckled at the thought, much to Obsidian's annoyance.

"You think that I've been slacking off this whole time? I was training Amethyst, Pearl and myself whenever I found the chance. I need to improve a bit too, so that you all can't keep the heavy duty enemies all to yourselves." Garnet explained.

The leader of the crystal gems crouched down next to Steven and patted his head. Obsidian, still glaring at her, suddenly jabbed as hard as she could at Garnet. Before the blow could connect, Garnet caught the massive fist with her hand and stared the giant gem down with a cocky smirk. Obsidian pulled away, blushing orangish red.

"Whatever." She sputtered.

The others laughed. Sardonyx slapped her sparring partner on the back.

"Come on now! Be happy that she's stronger than you. You've made some great progress since we started doing this, so having a couple people stronger than us just means all the more to us as a group." Sardonyx said cheerfully.

Obsidian sighed.

"Yeah, you have a point. Speaking of a couple, where is Tourmaline?" Obsidian asked.

"He's probably still training Topaz and himself." Jet suggested.

Obsidian looked back at the warp pad.

"They're still gone? It's been three days." She stated.

Garnet shrugged.

"They're at a very secluded area, so I doubt anything happened to them." She assured them.

"Also because...it's Tourmaline out there." Sardonyx said.

"Yes that too." Garnet agreed.

Obsidian slumped back.

"If they wanted to do some real training, they should've gone with us." She claimed.

"I have to agree with you, I can't exactly think of what they could do together that they couldn't do with us." Sardonyx said.

Suddenly, another ray of light filled the house. The gems stared at the pad's impressive show, and then the light dispersed, revealing the two men they were talking about. Tourmaline was covered in gashes, his tank top tattered and stained with his face bloodstained and bruised. Topaz on the other hand had a swollen red eye, blood stains that started at the corner of his mouth and spread to his cheek, and dozens of bruises on his body. This shirt was nearly torn off, revealing old cuts and new open ones. Everyone stared at them in confusion and shock.

"Oooh so that's why they don't go with us. Cause they know we'd stop them from beating the snot out of each other." Sardonyx declared.

Obsidian raised an eyebrow at Sardonyx.

"Snot?" She repeated.

Sardonyx looked at Obsidian.

"No swearing in the house." She stated.

Steven got up from the couch and ran up to the two men. Tourmaline crouched down in front of the boy with a moody expression.

"Are you guys hurt? You need healing spit?" Steven asked.

"We're fine Steven." Tourmaline assured him, "Just let us decompress a bit. We've been fighting nonstop.".

Topaz rolled his eyes.

"More like, you fought me every now and then and just left me to lift and blow up heavy things. You could've helped me with that too ya know?" Topaz whined.

Tourmaline looked back at him.

"Well you should've just followed me up then." He teased.

"I'm still your teacher Tourmaline! Don't think that just because you're stronger than me you can just give me orders." The pale gem said.

"Alright, so long as you know I'm probably not gonna listen to your training speeches anymore." The tan gem shot back.

Topaz groaned and Steven laughed a little. Tourmaline stood back up and walked towards the temple door. Steven's smile turned into a frown.

"Aww, don't you wanna hang out?" He asked.

Tourmaline waved his hand back at them as he walked through the door.

"Later. I need some alone time for now." He said.

"Okay! Be quick with your alone time! We're gonna watch a movie tonight!" Steven stated.

"Yeah yeah." He said as he entered the temple.

Topaz walked over to the couch and sat down on the floor in front of the other gems. Steven walked over to Topaz with a concerned look.

"You want me to heal you? You look pretty banged up." Steven offered.

Topaz held a hand up in protest.

"Don't worry about it kid, not the first time I was messed up like this. and this is no where near as bad as other times. Like when I sort of died." Topaz responded.

Steven chuckled a little. Sardonyx looked down on the man.

"So I take it the training went well?" She asked.

Topaz looked up to her.

"I'd say so. I feel like I'm getting stronger anyway so that's good." He stated.

Garnet walked over to the beaten gem.

"Let Steven heal you. You're bleeding on the floor." She demanded.

Topaz heaved a sigh, "Fine.".

Steven licked his hand and placed it on his chest. His wounds glew, then they vanished, and he was healed.

"Ah, not bad at all." He breathed.

"Always a pleasure." Steven said cheerfully.

Topaz got up and looked Garnet in the face.

"So what's on the agenda today?" He asked.

Garnet shrugged.

"Nothing I can think of. Things are relatively calm for once." She commented.

"That's usually not a good sign. There's always a calm before a storm." The pale gem said.

Obsidian rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, just because something good is happening for once it means some disaster is going to destroy us. Makes perfect sense." She said sarcastically.

"I'm choosing to hear your words and not your tone Obsidian." Topaz said sincerely.

Amethyst rolled her eyes at the statement, shooting a glare at the oblivious Black Pearl. She decided to go see what Tourmaline was up to, so she left the group and walked into the temple.

/**/

Inside the temple, Tourmaline was in his room. It was still an empty space, but he didn't care. It was a nice place to clear his mind. To both of their pleasure, Topaz has been making bounds in reaching new levels of strength. If another large threat comes by, he'll at least have some power to back up his loud mouth. He took a deep breath as his wounds healed themselves. Concentrating on accelerating the healing process was still a pain, but over his adventures, it's become less and less of a strain on him. He heard footsteps coming near his doorway, and he turned around to see Amethyst running into his room.

"Hey Tourmaline! How'd the training go?" Amethyst asked.

He stared at her with his new, unrelentingly cold stare.

"Just peachy. Topaz is getting stronger, but I'm not making much progress." He stated.

Amethyst stopped in front of him and stared up at the somewhat taller gem.

"Well at least one of you is getting something out of it. But the point of us starting this training program was so that we could all get stronger. Shouldn't you, you know, train with people that you'll actually get stronger with?" The purple gem asked.

"My main concern for now is for Topaz to get to an acceptable level of strength. He didn't even fight Pyrite, he fought Feldspar." He said.

"But he won. And Feldspar could've been a problem." She said.

"If he had half the strength of me or Obsidian, he would've ended it faster and we could've had a better chance of defeating Pyrite before...you know." He said solemnly.

Amethyst put a hand on his gem.

"You gotta stop beating yourself up about that man." She said.

"I'm not." He assured her.

"You say that but you still do it. You're just making sure that we can't tell that you are because you still hang out by yourself." Amethyst stated.

Tourmaline stepped back to get a better look at Amethyst. He glared at her.

"Well so what if I blame myself for them dying? It's partially true. I had the power to stop it. I killed Pyrite. I could've done it sooner if I was a bit stronger, if I was able to tap into that kind of power beforehand." He explained, angered, "I'll be sure that never happens again. Just leave me alone and let me do this my way.".

Tourmaline turned around and walked over to the other corner of the room. Amethyst frowned and just looked at him.

"You've changed man." She said.

He looked over his shoulder at her.

"Losing loved ones will do that to you." He said coldly.

He looked back forward and just stared at the wall. Amethyst shrugged and walked out of the room. Before she left the doorway's view, she turned back to Tourmaline one last time.

"We're here for you buddy. We lost a lot of people we cared about through the years too." She said and started walking away.

Amethyst held her stomach and reentered Steven's house. The others were still talking, and Amethyst's eyes were drawn to the portrait of Rose. She felt a sense of nostalgia, and sadness looking at it.

"_Some pretty recently too._" She thought.

/**/

It was bright and sunny out in Beach City. The residents were abuzz and happy, and things seemed normal for the town. Lars, Sadie, Jenny, Buck and Sour Cream were hanging out outside and enjoying the beautiful weather. They were sitting at one of the tables outside of the Big Donut.

"So uh, Sour Cream? You uh...doing another rave this weekend?" Lars asked.

"I might. Depends on if mom's up for watching my little brother for a little." He answered.

"It's cool if you don't. Being there for your siblings is always the right thing to do." Buck said.

"Yeah, it is." Jenny agreed.

Sadie looked over at Jenny.

"Didn't you leave your sister alone at the pizza shop?" Sadie asked.

"She said she was cool with it." Jenny assured her.

There was a bit of a silence.

"So...any of you guys seen Tourmaline around?" Buck asked.

Lars flinched at the statement.

"Oh! I heard a bit from Steven a while back." Lars said, "Apparently he's been dealing with some depression. Something about a few of his friends dying.".

Everyone's eyes went wide.

"We gotta go see him." Buck declared.

"I dunno about that man. I think he just wants to be alone." Lars said.

Jenny stood up with a mad expression.

"What kind of talk is that!? The boy's gotta be hurting really bad. He needs some friends to come and cheer him up, so let's just do that!" She demanded.

Buck nodded, but Sour Cream stared off at the sea. Jenny looked at the oblivious boy and grew even more angry.

"Sour cream! Are you even listening!?" She shouted.

Sour cream pointed forward towards the ocean. Jenny and the others looked to where he was pointing and they were shocked to see something flying over the ocean. It looked like a grey puck shaped ship with Pink and black lines swirling around the round, exterior walls. The residents of Beach City also stared at the puck with a sense of dread, with the exception of Ronaldo, who had his phone out and was taking pictures. Sadie immediately pulled out her phone and dialed for Steven. The phone rang a bit, but the boy picked up.

"Steven Universe speaking." He greeted.

"Uh hey Steven, it's Sadie. Are you by chance, outside?" She asked.

"Nope. Why?" He asked back.

"Cause there's something really big flying over the ocean right now and I think it's going towards your house." She said.

"What!? Thanks for telling me! I'll get the gems and take care of it!" He said, then hanging up.

Sadie put her phone away and saw that the ship was getting closer to the shoreline.

"I think it's for the best that we hold off on that trip to see Tourmaline." Buck said.

/**/

All the gems, with the exception of Tourmaline were standing on the beach, the house and what remains of their cannon behind them. She big ship quickly came up to them. It was much faster than the hand ships they were used to, so they didn't have enough time to prep the laser light cannons.

"What do you think it is?" Obsidian asked.

"Probably another squad of Homeworld gems looking for their friends." Garnet answered.

Black Pearl felt a little worried, but Topaz shot her an assuring smile and she regained her composure. The ship made it to the beach, and immediately fell to the ground like a stone. A cloud of dust and a large splash of water exploded out from the impact. There was a small silence, but then the front of the ship opened in a triangle. It was completely black on the inside, but a gem walked out from the shadows. The others gripped their weapons tightly as the potential enemy stepped into the sunlight. She had short, orange, slightly messy hair and her skin was a shade of dark green, though most of it save her upper arms, shins, and face were covered by a light blue body suit with red rectangle patches spread evenly across the rib area. Her eyes were covered by dark blue goggles with raspberry red lenses. Her gems were located underneath her ribs, the rectangular things resting diagonally on the front sides of her stomach. Her thin lips were pursed in a serious expression.

"Are you the crystal gems?" She asked, her voice silvery and adolescent like.

Amethyst stepped forward first.

"So what if we are!?" She shouted.

The mysterious gem took a step forward.

"I've come here to talk. Well, more negotiate, but I need to talk to someone specific. I need to speak with the gem named Tourmaline." The deep green gem requested.

The other gems raised an eyebrow at the request. What interest does the homeworld have in Tourmaline? Could they have figured out he was the one who put Pyrite down? That seemed impossible. Tanza stepped forward next.

"What do you want with him?" She asked.

"To talk to him." The invader said.

Obsidian started stomping towards the gem.

"I don't know who you are but you've got a lot of nerve thinking you can just fly up to our base and demand Tourmaline." She snarled.

The new gem's eyes went a little wide.

"There's no way in hell that I'm going to let you anywhere near-"

"Obsidian! Enough!" Tourmaline's voice called out.

The giant black gem looked back and saw Tourmaline staring down at them all with a stern expression. He leapt from the deck and in between Obsidian and the foreign gem. He landed with a crouch and slowly stood up. He stared into her with murderous eyes. He wasn't going to take any chances with her. No more chances for anyone. The gem stepped back, intimidated by the young gem.

"Oh good you're here! Listen, I have to talk with you. It's very important." She assured him.

"I'm not entirely sure I believe you." He said sternly.

"It's about Feldspar." She said.

The others flinched at the statement. What did this random gem know about Feldspar? Tourmaline blinked at the statement, and his threatening gaze faded into an uncaring stare.

"I'm listening." He said.

"Great. But first, I need to be sure about something." She stated as her gems started to glow.

From her two gems, she pulled out two handles. She flipped the things forward, revealing them to be three pronged katars. The three snaggled blades spread out in a crude, crooked trident like fashion. Tourmaline glared at the display.

"I have to see how strong you are. I need to be sure it's not just a hunch." She declared.

Tourmaline slightly frowned at the statement. He held his hand out and it turned light green, morphing into it's old clawed form. The deep green gem stared in confusion.

"Aren't you going to summon your actual weapon?" She asked.

"I don't want to kill you by accident. You have information that I'm interested in." He stated.

She scowled at him. Even if he's as strong as she believed he was, she didn't appreciate being mocked. But she her petty anger aside, the point of this exercise was to see how strong he was, so she had to get him to go all out. She swung her right arm at his head, aiming for the throat. Moments before it connected, Tourmaline grabbed her wrist. She stared with a pained expression as he squeezed her wrist tightly, his clawed hand cutting into her, her grimaced at her.

"That move was meant to kill. I know your game!" He shouted.

"Oh...crap." She said under her breath.

"You're just another one of those psychos!" He yelled as he yanked her forward, slamming his knee into her gut, "Just here to take my friends away!".

He kicked her to the ground, and she slid back a few feet. He stomped on the ground and his gems glew. His grieves took form once more, and he glared at his enemy.

"No one messes with my friends." He growled.

With that, he rushed forward. His speed was alarming, giving the mystery gem no time to react to him. Suddenly, something rushed out of the ship. Tourmaline leaped up and kicked forward at the stunned gem, only for the mysterious force to take his attack. The resulting impact created a loud boom, knocking Tourmaline back as a cloud of dust and sand was created. He slid back and glared at the dust cloud. The others ran up to his side.

"Tourmaline! You alright?" Jet asked.

Tourmaline just growled in response.

The dust had started to settle, revealing the force that stopped Tourmaline. It was another gem standing over the other one. She was a little under Garnet's height from the looks of it, her dark brown skin covered mostly by an amber suit with cuts across the shoulders and abdomen. Her eyes were obstructed by some odd headset that wrapped around her head, but it was shown that she was staring at Tourmaline. Her light brown hair was tied in two braids that billowed in the wind. Her weapons were two large battering rams that covered her forearms, though they had freshly made cracks in them. They were huge, almost as big as Jet. The original gem scrambled to her feet.

"Dravite! What are you doing?" She asked.

"Saving your life. That hit would've knocked your head off." The brown gem said in a gravelly voice.

"Well, yeah but now you've got everyone else wanting to fight now! And if I had no chance against him, you're pretty screwed too!" She protested, "I mean, look at your weapons!".

Dravite looked at her weapons to see them nearly shattered. She poofed them away, held her hands out in front of the gems, revealing her brown gems on her palms. They glowed and her battering rams came back, repaired.

"I have a bit more defense now. But I think you screwed over our chance with Tourmaline with that stunt." Dravite commented.

The green gem groaned in frustration.

"I didn't think he'd get so pissed by that! Ugh, I guess we have to go back." She said.

Tourmaline rushed forward, surprising the others with his speed.

"You no good bastards aren't leaving here alive!" He declared.

Dravite prepared to block the next attack, but suddenly a white stick came flying out of the doorway. Tourmaline's eyes widened with surprise and the stick hit him directly in the forehead. Tourmaline stopped in his tracks as the stick bounded off his head and fell to the ground. The others staring in confusion at the event that just played out.

"What the?" Tourmaline said, confused.

"Hold up man!" A young man's voice called out.

Tourmaline looked forward and saw another gem run out of the ship, a male gem. He had a head of thick, messy, but short white hair. His skin had a light green hue to a snow white base. He wore a brown, short jacket with a green crop top under it, with grey slack shorts. He stared at Tourmaline with greyish green eyes and a curious gaze. He was slow, really slow. Tourmaline wasn't sure he was trying to fake him out, but the expression on his face made it seem like this was really his top speed. Dravite and the green gem's eyes went wide as the other gem made it to Tourmaline, picking up his stick. He stood up and grinned at Tourmaline, holding his stick at his side. He was actually shorter than Tourmaline by a few inches, and the stick was even smaller.

"Hiya! My name's Ta-" He said in a happy, friendly tone.

The other gems rushed to grab their friend, but he quickly ducked behind Tourmaline, who looked back with a confused expression.

"Talc! Get back to the ship now!" The green gem shouted.

"Sorry but not until I clear this mess up now." Talc declared.

The gems started going off to the side to grab him, but he moved so that Tourmaline was still in between the three of them.

"Are you insane!? You're just gonna piss him off more!" Dravite shouted.

"I think he's reached his angriest point." Talc stated.

"You don't know that! Now get back in the ship before you get yourself hurt!" The green gem shouted in a scolding tone.

Dravite moved to the opposite direction to catch Talc of guard, but the white gem anticipated this and slid through Tourmaline's legs. The green gem tried to catch him but he did and landed on Tourmaline's shoulders. . The others watched the bizarre display with confused stares, with the exception of Steven, Taz, Amethyst and Sardonyx, who couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

"Are they...are they really a threat?" Obsidian asked.

Dravite tried to grab Talc, but the gem leaped up, dodging her grab and landed on his hands, his head on top of Tourmaline's, who was getting more and more weirded out by the situation.

"Just let me explain what's going on to him so he can calm down a bit and we can all start again." Talc offered.

"I don't think we can do that anymore Talc!" The green gem said as she hopped up to grab him.

Tourmaline finally moved and Talc lost his balance, falling backwards and onto the green gem. The two laid in the sand, with Talc laying backwards on top of her. He grabbed a handful of sand and let it all pour out of his hand.

"Woah...what is this stuff? There's like, thousands of tiny things together making up this pile." He said in awe.

"That's sand, and it's measured in grains." Tourmaline said, even more confused at the fact he had to explain to this guy what sand was, "So, you wanna try to talk me out of fighting your friends or…".

Talc let out a small gasp and quickly scrambled to his feet, getting sand all over his green friend as he got to his feet. He smiled at Tourmaline, who although somewhat calmed down, was still a little angry. Talc grabbed Tourmaline by the hand and brought him a distance away from the other two. He stopped with Tourmaline and looked him in the face.

"Alright, so those guys are members of a very select group of people. They're tied to Feldspar only by creation. A bug, that they think was on Feldspar for record keeping purposes, came back to the Homeworld with footage of you and your friends' fight with Pyrite and Feldspar. They didn't support the plan Feldspar had and declared that their leader had gone bonkers. So they decided to come here to see you, since you're the one who destroyed Pyrite." Talc explained.

Tourmaline stared at the white gem in disbelief. Feldspar had more servants? And they weren't evil? It seemed very fishy.

"Why didn't they just stay at the Homeworld?" Tourmaline asked.

Talc tilted his head.

"They were in bubbles when I found em. Guess Feldspar didn't really care about em much. That or the Homeworld just left em somewhere." He suggested, "Would explain how I found em.".

Tourmaline frowned and continued glaring at the boy. His story didn't make much sense.

"Alright, how are you involved with them?" He asked.

"Oh I was just wandering around the Homeworld when I stumbled upon this small shelter in an alcove in a district that has a bunch of low class gems living in kind of bad living conditions." Talc explained.

"We call those slums here.".

"Oh, neat word. I'll use it next time.".

Tourmaline raised an eyebrow.

"And you just thought it would be okay to just open the bubbles up? What if they had corrupted gems?" Tourmaline brought up.

"Corrupted gem? What're those?" Talc asked with a curious sense in his tone.

Tourmaline stared at him, deadpan for a few seconds.

"Nevermind. So you opened the bubbles up, released all of them, the bug just happened to come by at the time, and you saw the fight and decided that it was best you all came to find me?" Tourmaline wrapped up.

"Well the bug was there when I got there too. In fact, I saw the thing zipping through the air so I decided to follow it. And there was another reason, but the actual group will do a better job explaining it to you than I could." Talc stated.

"Why do you keep classifying yourself as a separate part of them? What's your deal?" The tan gem asked.

"Oh I just wanted to get off of the Homeworld, so I led them to a docking bay and we stole that ship. I was tired of the Homeworld anyway. Nothing but machinery and stupid businessy gems. It was depressing. So I figured Earth would be a lot more fun to be on!" Talc said excitedly, "Though to be fair, they are my friends now. I'm just not getting involved in their personal affairs. I'd just get in the way.".

He beamed as Tourmaline tilted his head. This guy was way too dopey and innocent to be playing him. But one last question was on his mind.

"Alright that answers most of everything, but the one thing I'd like to know is why that gem attacked me the way she did." He asked, pointing at the green gem.

Talc looked back at his friend.

"Oh her? She was just excited to see you, so she wanted to make sure she got to see your power first hand." Talc stated.

Tourmaline stared at the now nervous girl, so he shrugged and walked over to her. Talc followed close behind him and eventually the two made it to the other two gems.

"So, you want to see my power then?" Tourmaline asked.

The green gem flinched at the statement.

"YEA-I mean...yes, please show me." Her shout interrupted by herself, shifting into a professional tone.

Tourmaline picked Talc up by the jacket and tossed him over to the other gems. He turned so that his side faced them and he assumed his fighting stance. His back leg began to glow, and with one kick, he sent a wave of green energy towards the ocean. The green gem stared in awe as the energy wave cut into the ocean's surface and exploded some tens of meters away from them. Tourmaline then did a series of lighting fast sidekicks, releasing a stream of green energy balls. Talc and the green gem stared at Tourmaline with amazed expressions, with Dravite looking on at him with a cautious gaze. He lifted his knee to his chest, and a wave of green energy covered his foot. He stomped the ground, and the energy seeped into the ground.

"Boom." Tourmaline uttered.

With that, a sphere of green energy pushed all three of the gems varying distances away from Tourmaline. Dravite skidded back ten feet, the green gem was knocked flat on her back some twenty feet away, and Talc was sent flying into the side of the ship. The green gem sat up, her goggles messed up, covering her cheeks and not her eyes, revealing their deep blue pupils. Tourmaline relaxed his stance and looked directly at the stunned gem.

"Satisfied?" He asked.

"That was quite...I mean it was very...oh forget this professional talk that was so freaking cool!" She shouted as she got up to her feet.

She ran back up to Tourmaline, shaking her head so her goggles fell off of her face. She stared at Tourmaline with a warm smile.

"You're even more amazing than the footage I saw of you let on. I'm sorry I pushed you earlier, I just had to see that awesome strength so bad!" She said excitedly.

Tourmaline motioned his hand to beckon the others to come join them. They complied and ran over to his side. The dark green gem felt a little nervous with all the eyes now looking at her.

"Uhh, so I guess Talc told you about our purpose here?" She asked.

"Yeah. You, the brown gem, and whoever else is in that ship are creations of Feldspar, but you don't want to be a part of her crazy world since you learned she wanted to kill everyone with Pyrite. And I'm guessing the Homeworld wouldn't smile kindly on you if they learned about her plan." Tourmaline relayed.

The others blinked at the statement.

"They served Feldspar?" Pearl stated.

"Yeah, but we weren't up to her standards, so she put us in bubbles so we would be "safe" until she could figure out a way to fix us or make us stronger. Now I'm guessing that she just wanted to figure out a way to boost us up to Pyrite's level, or make us as brainwashed as that freak." The green gem explained.

Topaz sighed.

"Of course. Because why not go all the way when it comes to being a psychotic scientist?" He said sarcastically.

"But I'm guessing Talc left out another bit of information." The green one suggested.

"Well, yeah. He never told me your name." Tourmaline brought up.

The green gem blushed slightly and had an embarrassed expression on her face, She scratched the back of her head as she introduced herself.

"Oh! It's uh...my name's Elbaite." Elbaite stated, "That's not what I was talking about, but uh, I guess I should introduce the others too you now. You already met Dravite, so I'll let the others come out now.".

She looked back only to see Talc calling for her friends to come out. He moved out of the doorway and out of the ship, two very odd gems stepped out. The first gem was relatively tall, with her arms bound together by her clothing in a straight jacket style. Her suit was a white and brown striped suit. Her eyes were small black dots and her black hair was in a set of square rows. Her skin was cream and she held an analytical stare. The other gem was roughly Amethyst's size. Her red gems were on her shoulders, her yellow green skin shimmered in the sunlight, and her brown eyes stared forward in a happy gaze. She wore a two piece consisting of a black crop top and black, long shorts. She shook her head and her long red hair went from side to side. The cream gem walked up to the group.

"So this is the renowned Tourmaline? I was expecting someone...taller." She said.

The small yellow green gem skipped next to her friend.

"Well anyone would look big if they were smacking Pyrite around." She suggested.

The two made it up to the rest of the group. The cream gem was a little taller than Tourmaline.

Tourmaline held his hand out for her. Steven nudged his leg.

"Tourmaline, don't be rude. It doesn't look like she can use her hands." He pointed out.

The cream gem's back began to glow, presumably her gem, and a stream of tendrils came from her back. They wrapped around and formed an arm. It slung over her shoulder and grabbed Tourmaline's hand and shook it.

"My name is Buergerite." The cream gem greeted.

Buergerite let go of his hand and the tiny gem gave him a highfive.

"Name's Uvite!" She said cheerfully.

Sardonyx raised her eyebrow.

"What a strange couple of gems." She said under her breath.

Uvite leaped up onto Buergerite's shoulders and glared at Sardonyx.

"Hey now! That's not a polite thing to think out loud!" She scolded.

Sardonyx bowed her head to her.

"I'm sorry, that was rude." She apologized.

Uvite leaped off of her friend and landed in front of her.

"No worries, just keep rude thoughts in your head." She suggested.

Buergerite's eye wandered away from the group and she noticed the remains of the cannon. She used her artificial hand to point at the wreckage.

"Hey, what's that over there?" She asked.

Pearl looked back at the wreckage and then back at Buergerite.

"Oh, well that's the remains of a cannon we were making. A way to defend against warships that might invade." Pearl explained.

Her fake hand scratched her chin.

"Very interesting. Mind if I help you out with repairs? I used to mess around with technology before I was sealed away." She stated.

A twinkle appeared in Pearl's eyes. Buergerite walked around the group and towards the wreckage.

"I'll take that as a yes.".

"So...that all your friends?" Amethyst asked.

Elbaite looked over to the small purple gem.

"Just two more." She said as she turned back to the ship, "You getting them Talc?".

Talc ran out of the ship. He entered deeper to grab the other two members while the others were distracted.

"Yeah! The dynamic duo are coming out!" He called out.

Tourmaline walked forward past Elbaite and Dravite towards Talc and the ship's entrance.

"Alright let's get this over with. Bring em out." He demanded.

Talc held his hands out in a modest motion.

"Patience now! They're on their way." Talc stated.

Suddenly, the two felt a tremor. The boys looked at the dark entrance, and after a few more steps, a gargantuan gem stepped out of the shadows. She was a little bigger than Obsidian, but she looked the least human of all the other gems. Her face was a smooth surface, no eyes, no mouth, no nose, it was just a smooth field of grey. The right side of her head was bald while the other side had six long, messy strands of hair fell to the side of her head. Her gem was located on her chest, shaped as a sphere. Her suit was light brown with scattered black markings all over it. She supposedly stared down at Tourmaline and let out a loud bellow.

Tourmaline assumed a defensive stance. He didn't know what this monstrous gem was going to do, but he wasn't ready to take any chances. But suddenly, the gem sat down in front of the boys and covered her face with her large hands. She started to make sobbing noises, much to Tourmaline's confusion. He walked up to the gem and held his hand out.

"Uh, are you alright?" He asked.

"Mmrgaah!" She shouted as she slapped his hand away.

She brought her hand back to her face and started sobbing again.

"Oh no Pegmatite what's wrong!?" A cutesy voice called out.

A gem resembling a young woman ran up to the monstrous gem's side. Her skin was a beautiful red, and her eyes were a light pink. Her hair was a straight base and then spread out into two pigtails that were a series of repeating diamonds. She wore a tanktop that was a deep red, a skirt that cut off at her thighs that was rose red, and large boots that were a vivid pink. Her gems were on her upper arms and were a bright red. She placed her hands on the grey gem's big arm, who let out a low hum as she looked over to her supposed friend.

"Sweetie I told you that Jade is part of a fusion now. He's part of the gem before ya!" She told her.

Tourmaline's eyes went a little wide with that statement. These two knew his dad? But his thoughts were interrupted when the great gem turned her head to Tourmaline and then sat up. She grabbed Tourmaline and brought him closer to her. Tourmaline was confused by the sudden action, but tried to remain at ease. She felt his hair with her thumb and let out a soothing moo.

"Yeah I see the resemblance to him too. Now put him down. I wanna talk to him." The red gem requested.

The giant gem dropped him and Tourmaline landed on his feet. The cutsey girl moved between the giant gem and Tourmaline and looked up to him. She was a little shorter than him, and her eyes were sparkling.

"Sorry about that. I told her that you were a fusion of Jade and Aquamarine and she got really excited to see her old friend again." The young girl explained.

"How does she know my dad?" He asked.

"Oh she helped him train! What? You think your dad became such a badass on his own?" She teased.

Tourmaline averted his gaze for a second, and then looked back at her.

"Yes." He blurted out.

The gem giggled and her giant friend let out a bellowing laugh.

"Oh my, you certainly have his sense of humor. By the way, my name's Rubellite and my beautiful friend is named Pegmatite." She stated.

Tourmaline eased up a little.

"The pleasure's mine." He said.

"Oh no. The pleasure's gonna be mine." She said lustfully.

Before Tourmaline could ask what she meant, she planted a kiss on him. His eyes went wide with shock, and his friends were just as surprised as he was. Instinctually, Sardonyx and Obsidian grabbed Tanza before she did something rash.

"Don't worry Tourmaline will do the right thing!" Obsidian assured the now enraged gem.

Tourmaline recovered from the shock and shoved her away and into Pegmatite's legs. He stared at the offended gem, bug eyed.

"I...I.." He struggled to say, his face burning.

"What's your problem!? I just wanted to give you a little treat for destroying Pyrite! I hated that monster more than everything and I just wanted to show my hero some appreciation-" She scolded.

"I have a girlfriend!" He yelled.

Rubellite's offended look turned to one of stunned regret. She then turned panicky.

"Oh my word I'm so sorry! I didn't think you had a significant other so I just...I don't know I'm sorry!" She sputtered out.

Tourmaline covered his face with one hand.

"It's fine just...don't kiss people you just met!" He shouted.

Tanza broke out of the large gem's grip and rushed to Tourmaline's side. She towered over the small gem and scowled at her.

"Listen here you little brat! Tourmaline is mine and you can't just do something like that with him! He's my lover and I won't tolerate someone doing something like that at all!" She shouted.

Rubellite then leaped up and grabbed the purple gem's face. She planted a kiss on her. Tourmaline's jaw dropped as he looked on at the weird scene. Pegmatite grabbed Rubellite and pulled her away. She was grinning slyly at the two.

"There. Now you both got a kiss from me." She said.

"How does that make this better!?" They both shouted.

Pegmatite held her hand out and started talking in his guttural speech. Her other hand motions made it seem like she was apologizing for her friend.

"Uh, it's alright. Just make sure she doesn't do that again." Tourmaline said.

Pegmatite carried Rubellite over to the group with the others following them back. Everyone gathered around Elbaite, with the exception of Buergerite, who was working on the cannon.

"Alright, now that we're all gathered here, we can get onto the real reason we're here." Elbaite said.

Garnet stepped forward.

"Why did you come here? Outside of just escaping the Homeworld." She asked.

Elbaite heaved a sigh.

"There was another member of our group. Her name was Liddicoatite, and she was the most avid follower of Feldspar among us. Despite seeing her insanity...she's still loyal to her. She defected from our group and came to Earth on her own. She took a smaller ship so she was able to travel much faster than us. We have no idea where she went, but we do know that she came here to retrieve Feldspar." She explained.

Topaz let out a chuckle.

"Well she's certainly on a wild goosechase. Cause I eighty-six'd her myself." He stated.

Uvite looked up at the cocky gem.

"You stabbed her gem! That doesn't mean that she died. Gems can survive with a cracked gem if it doesn't spread out too much." She stated.

"Are you serious?" Topaz blurted out, "I wrenched it deep in her, there's no way she can recover from that.".

Black Pearl stepped forward.

"I can attest to this. Her gem looked pretty shattered to me." She said.

"Shattered, or chipped?" Rubellite suggested.

Black Pearl raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" Black Pearl asked.

"I can agree that her gem was seriously damaged, practically falling apart. But those could've just been small chunks that fell off the base stone. Even if it's cracked, there's a very, VERY, slim chance that she could've regenerated." Elbaite suggested, "And that chance event happened.".

Lapis stepped forward.

"Seriously? I mean...I regenerated from a damaged gem, but it just had a few cracks. From what Black Pearl described, it was in much worse condition than mine." Lapis stated, "So there's no way that she could've come back.".

"I had some very serious doubts about it too, but there's just one thing that made me realize that may have been the case: How else would the bug know to go back to the Homeworld?" Elbaite suggested.

The gems froze up. She was right. How else would the bug return home? How else would it know exactly where to go? What else could've made it go? Elbaite's face turned stern and grim.

"I also have to say that the bug coming back happened around three weeks ago. So to put it bluntly, Feldspar's still alive, and she's been running around for quite a while." She said seriously.

The group fell silent. The impact of the words left a bit to be desired. Topaz grit his teeth. How could he have been so careless? He was slipping up in his old age. Tourmaline started shaking with anger.

"Where...is...she?" He growled.

Elbaite stared at Tourmaline with a mix of fear and assurance.

"We...we don't know. I would say the kindergarten but there's no way that she would've stayed there after all that time, especially with Liddicoatite coming after her. All we know is that she's alive and if she's trying to gather us. No doubt she's up to nothing good." She explained.

Tourmaline growled in frustration. She may not have been the one responsible for his friend's deaths, but she's the one who made the monster that did the deed. His only concern now is that he finds Feldspar and slaughters her before she can make a move again.

"So, should we go to the kindergarten?" Topaz suggested.

"That might be the best idea. But for now, my friends and I need to rest. We'll search for Feldspar tomorrow." Elbaite answered.

Tourmaline glared at the lax gem.

"No! We go after her now!" He shouted.

Obsidian stepped next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Tourmaline, relax. She's been under our noses for a while now, I don't think another day is going to make much of a difference." She stated.

Tourmaline grit his teeth and crossed his arms. Topaz stepped forward.

"I'll track the cretin down. I'll be able to crush her for sure this time." Topaz promised.

"You're not the only one who's gonna get a piece of the action." Jet said.

"Yeah, but for now, how about we ease up and watch a movie? I'm sure all of us got a lot of questions for you guys and vice versa." Steven declared.

Talc leaned down and looked at Steven.

"What's a movie?" He asked.

/**/

In a dark chamber thousands of feet below the surface, three gems gathered around a glassy pod. The only light came from the various panels on the walls, barely illuminating their forms. One was standing with her arms crossed, supposedly glaring at the pod, the other was cradled in a fetal position mumbling to herself while the final one was near the panels, working on the machinery. The cross armed gem looked past the pod and at the gem working on the machinery.

"So then...are the preparations finally complete?" She asked.

The working gem ignored her and continued tapping and typing away at the dark green and flashing panels. The other gem got irritated and moved around the pod to talk to her.

"Feldspar! I know you're my lord but you could at least dignify my responses." She called out.

The gem in the fetal position slammed her fist onto the ground, cracking the glassy, metallic flooring.

"Shut up! Let her work faster so we can move on to the important part!" She cried out.

Feldspar stopped working and lowered her hands to her sides.

"Both of you be quiet." She demanded.

There was an artificial overtone to her normal speaking voice, like her voice resonated with each syllable she uttered.

"I made it well aware to both of you that the establishment of a new base and the creation of our new tools to achieve our goals was the top priority. And with these final specifications, I will no longer have to constantly monitor the mechanical operations. I'll be free from this place. Free to wreak as much havoc as I please. Free to take back what's mine and take whatever I want as well." She continued.

The cradled gem grabbed her head, her nails sinking into her scalp.

"It hurts! It hurts not being true anymore! When can I be normal again!?" She cried out.

"Patience my sweet." Feldspar said as she turned around, extending her hand out and revealing a bubble filled with shards of a silverish grey gemstone, "We just need to wait for the flies to wander into our web. Then we can reclaim what we have lost.".

There was a loud thud followed by a bellowing roar. The protesting gem stepped closer to Feldspar.

"Did you lock her up again!? But...mistress she can't be imprisoned like this! She needs to breathe! She needs open space! She needs me!" She protested.

Feldspar scowled, the lighting only showing the left side of her mouth and a bit of her upper torso.

"Then go to her already. I only locked her up because she got antsy when you left." The grey gem said.

The other gem let out a tired breath and relaxed herself.

"I apologize for my outbursts. It's just that ever since I got here and discovered you, it's been nothing but busy work. Locating a place to stay, creating a base, building your new bo-" She started.

Feldspar slashed at her subordinate's face, cutting her cheek, but only by enough to create a shallow gash.

"Do not. Talk about. My body. It's far from complete. The job you and Onyx did was only subpar, but enough for me to move. I can make upgrades myself, and then I'll be beyond what your average gem, or even fusion is capable of. I'll be an evolved, perfected version of what I envisioned thousands of years ago." She said sternly, "And soon there will be more of me.".

The subordinate stared in horror.

"Do you...do you plan on using us?" She asked.

Feldspar chuckled.

"Oh now why would I risk this on my perfectly healthy and perfectly capable minions Liddicoatite? It would seem like a huge waste considering all the fodder we can gain from harvesting the gems of this planet. And maybe if all goes well, we'll have some Homeworld guinea pigs to experiment on." She said sadistically.

She turned back to her control panel and continued tapping on buttons and coding her machine. After a few beeps and a low hum, she turned over to the crouching gem. She looked up at her master with presumably sad eyes.

"Onyx, it's time. The base is now fully operational, and the gems are sure to start snooping around the kindergarten. Go there and wait, then take whoever you can prisoner. We need leverage to obtain what we need from those fools." Feldspar explained.

Onyx crawled onto her feet and nodded at her master.

"And then...if it goes well…" She stammered.

"Yes, not only will I gain something I desire, we'll be reunited with our dearly missed member." She promised.

Onyx let out a happy hiss and ran out of the room, a door sliding open for her and then sliding shut. Liddicoatite looked back to her leader.

"So...what exactly is the plan? Outside of the destruction of Earth and the Homeworld?" She asked.

"Oh there's been a slight change in plans. The destruction of Earth seems like a waste." Feldspar stated.

There was a pause before Liddicoatite broke the silence.

"What? But...the Earth gems are the reason why you're in the state that you-"

"I am well aware of what they have done to me. Be that as it may, their power is quite valuable, especially the quartz brat's. They may not be a priority, but we are bound to clash as we begin our conquest, and we'll take from them as we go. Little by little, we'll gain what we need from them. And the Earth gems will see things our way...either naturally or with some help." She stated.

"So we're going after the Homeworld first? How are we going to do that?".

"Simple, we bring them here. Yellow Diamond is a coward who doesn't want to risk losing too many troops, so undoubtedly she'll only send her elites to kill me and attack the crystal gems. Sadly for them, they'll have some unfortunate surprises on both sides." Feldspar explained.

"So basically you're bringing the Homeworld here so they'll be sandwiched between two opposing forces?" Liddicoatite summed up.

"Exactly. And like a great scavenger flying high above them, we'll swoop down and pick off whatever we can to whittle them both down." Feldspar stated.

Liddicoatite rubbed her arm.

"But...what if you underestimate the number of gems the Homeworld will send after us?".

"Well that's the Earth gems problem. They'll find them first, and I guarantee neither of them will just ignore the other." Feldspar said.

"Your tactical genius knows no bounds. But I have one more question.".

"And what might that be?".

"When I gathered up the materials and notes from your old lab, I found a hidden chamber under your old desk, and inside there was a gemstone. Why did you make me leave it?" Liddicoatite asked.

Feldspar sighed.

"That gem is a lost cause. Years I did my best to train it, but to no avail, I got nothing out of it. It wasn't even destructive like Pyrite, it was just there. I bricked one message into it so much that all other processes were basically nonexistent. My manipulation and modulation methods only created a glorified golem. It's an obsolete object, nothing more." She explained.

The subordinate looked away. Every now and then Feldspar's callousness got to her.

"Now now, don't sulk. We shall only step forward from this day. We will take what is ours, and we shall usher in a new era of power for both the Homeworld and Earth." Feldspar declared.

"And...and Charoite...you'll be able to fix her?" Liddicoatite timidly asked.

"Yes, that much I can promise you." Feldspar assured her, "But in order to do that, I need samples to experiment on. I'd rather not do something worse to our dear friend. So for now, have faith that Onyx will complete her mission. We'll have more than enough gems for the testing process.".

Another roar and the sound of something slamming against hard metal echoed throughout the facility.

"Liddicoatite. Get her under control. I just put on the finishing touches to this place...so I'd hate to see Charoite set us back." Feldspar ordered.

"Of course my mistress." She bowed.

"Good. That will be all for you today.".

"Thank you my mistress.".

Liddicoatite exited through the door Onyx did and then Feldspar was alone in the darkness once more. She looked at the pod with a grim sense of satisfaction.

"_All will be mine. This time, no one will be able to stand in my way...not even you Tourmaline._" She thought to herself.


	30. Chapter 30:Awakening the Sleeping Giant

Chapter 30: Awakening the Sleeping Giant

Steven's house was in an uproar. The gem's had flooded into his house with full force. Buergerite was lifting and examining multiple things with her tendrils with Talc on her shoulders looking at them with her, Pegmatite was peeking up at Steven's room on her tip toes, Uvite was bouncing on the couch, Obsidian and Sardonyx were leaning against the bar with Rubellite, Dravite was speaking with Tanza and Taz, while the rest of the crystal gems were upstairs talking while Steven was looking for a movie for all of them. He figured he should make it a good one since a lot of the gems here haven't seen any earth movie yet.

"So we're gonna split up to search for Feldspar? That's neat." Amethyst said as she leaned back onto a pillow.

"The psychopathic gem that unleashed a monstrous fusion that nearly killed all of us, but managed to kill my friends, has been alive for nearly a month with plenty of time to do whatever. Neat, isn't the first word that I think of with this situation." Tourmaline complained.

Pearl put a hand on his shoulder. Tourmaline turned his head to her.

"It's alright Tourmaline. The main threat she had is gone! She had the homeworld gems on her side as well, and they're stashed away deep in the temple. Not only that, we have plenty of new allies. There's not much she can do, we will defeat her." Pearl assured him.

Tourmaline looked away from her and down at the bed. Garnet frowned at him. She reached over and lightly grabbed his chin, moving his head so he looks at her.

"Tourmaline...it will be okay. I know things won't go back to normal, they probably never will. But things do change...sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. The only thing you can do is move forward, and I know you're strong enough to do that." Garnet said warmly.

Tourmaline looked away from her and suddenly heard a giggle from downstairs. He walked off the bed, along with the others and looked down at the bar, where they saw a frazzled Sardonyx, Obsidian laughing and Rubellite with a giddy expression.

"What's the matter big girl? I just said that you were really hot." She said in a mischievous tone.

"I...I know what you said! It's just...I'm not used to this kind of attention is all." Sardonyx said nervously.

Rubellite giggled.

"Oh sweetie you should be getting this kind of attention all the time!" She complimented.

"Oh come on now Sardonyx! You can't possibly cave in this easy." Obsidian teased.

Rubellite's gaze fell on Obsidian.

"I bet you're just as easy to break down beautiful." She teased her.

Obsidian's stare went deadpan.

"No. Look all you want I don't care for that." Obsidian said.

Rubellite blinked at the statement and her lustful gaze went blank. Suddenly, the gems heard a laugh. They looked at the source of the sound to see Tourmaline's smiling face. The sight was a surprise. Tourmaline appeared happy.

"Okay I take it back this is pretty neat!" He chuckled.

Taz hopped onto Tourmaline's back and giggled. She used her power to raise his head up a little.

"Look! He's happy again!" She cheered.

Obsidian and Sardonyx cracked a smile.

"Good. I was tired of seeing his frown all the time." Obsidian commented.

Steven placed the video cassette on top of his tv and walked over to Tourmaline.

"Good! Now that everyone's in a nice mood, how about we watch this movie before we go get Feldspar?" He suggested.

/**/

The morning sun shined brightly on the destroyed remains of the kindergarten. The crystal gems, Tourmaline, Topaz, Elbaite, Talc and Steven were examining the destroyed debris. The other gems were divided into separate parties to search other parts of the globe for any signs of Feldspar. As they searched around the area, they slowly came to realize that they were chasing a cold trail. While Talc was enthralled by the various devices and look of the kindergarten, the others were getting increasingly tired of flipping over rocks and various debris to find even the smallest clue.

"I'm getting nothing from this." Tourmaline stated.

Topaz looked over to him.

"Relax Tourmaline, we've only been here for an hour. I'm sure something will present itself to us soon." He assured him.

"Not finding anything here though. Shot in the dark but maybe we should go track down her lab?" Elbaite suggested.

Amethyst hopped over a rock and looked at the green gem.

"Well that's an obvious idea." She said sarcastically.

"Memory's a bit fuzzy though, but I think I have an idea of where it might be." She said.

Tourmaline moved away from his pile of debris and over to Elbaite.

"I think I have an idea of where it might be. You just gotta open the door." He said.

Elbaite nodded and Tourmaline led the way to what he hoped was the lab. Talc hopped off a destroyed phage and next to Amethyst.

"How does he know that?" He asked.

"Heck if I know. That boy has seen a lot of weird stuff." She shrugged as she walked after the pair.

The other gems followed behind and eventually Tourmaline made it to a blank wall on the canyon's side. Elbaite walked over to the somewhat smooth surface.

"This it?" She asked.

"I think so." He said.

She moved over to the door and summoned her katars. She gazed intensely at the wall and her weapons began to glow green. She slashed at the air in an X-cross and unleashed a wave of energy. The resulting wave blew up once it made contact with the wall. Dust and rock went flying in all directions, and once it settled, it revealed in opening in the cliffside. Elbaite smirked at the revelation.

"Nice hunch." She commented as she walked inside.

The gems walked into the dark room to see nothing but rubble and a destroyed desk. The place was cleared out.

"Seems like someone made it here first." Pearl stated.

"From the looks of it, I suppose Feldspar decided to clear out when she was able to move, however that may have been done." Garnet suggested.

In frustration, Tourmaline kicked over the desk, to the other's surprise.

"Geez man ease up!" Amethyst stated.

"I am eased up! If I weren't I would've just blew up this...what the heck?" Tourmaline growls turning into a calm tone.

He crouched down and saw a small bubble, holding a gem inside of it. He picked it up and examined it closely. It was a large, translucent, golden gemstone in the shape of a pentagon. Pearl and Topaz moved next to him to get a better look at the stone.

"Is that a bubbled gem?" Pearl asked.

"Seems like it." Topaz answered, "Another one of Feldspar's experiments?".

Garnet walked over.

"Probably, but that brings up one question: Why did she leave it behind?" Garnet asked.

Tourmaline grimaced.

"I don't know but I don't want to know. I say we destroy it now and not worry about it." He suggested.

Talc walked next to the group with Steven, his eyes wandering around the room. He looked down and saw a small hole in the floor near where the desk used to stand. He grabbed Garnet's arm and tugged on it a little, getting the tall gem's attention.

"Hey! What do you think that is?" He asked.

Garnet looked at the hole and crouched down to examine it further. She grabbed the handle and flung a large portion of the floor out of the lab's opening. The other's looked down and were shocked at what they saw. It was a massive frame of a large woman. She was massive, bigger than Obsidian, and was completely golden save for the black jumpsuit that covered her body and a small bit of her arms, two purple clasps that were fashioned around her ribcage, yellow boots, and a thin layer of blue hair. There was a small, pentagon shaped hole in the middle of her chest. Talc let out a sound of awe.

"What is this?" He asked, mystified.

"A gem golem, from the looks of it." Steven suggested.

Amethyst grimaced at the sight of the thing. It was ugly in her eyes. Elbaite examined the hole in it's chest.

"I'm guessing that stone you have is what activates this thing." She guessed.

Tourmaline looked at the bubble and raised up his fist.

"Okay that's it I'm destroying this thing now." He declared.

Before the others could react, his fist was already being slammed down. The initial blow

popped the bubble, but before his fist could pulverize the gemstone into dust, an unknown force caused the gem to move from it's floating place. The loud smack of Tourmaline's fist colliding with his open hand was heard and he immediately started looking each way at the floor.

"What the...where'd it go!?" He exclaimed.

"There!" Steven shouted as he pointed at the stone, now on the lifeless body's stomach.

The stone quickly sped up to the hole, with Elbaite and Garnet trying to grab it but missing it by an inch each time. The gemstone fastened itself in the hole, and a golden light emanated from the golem's body. The light dissipated, and it's eyes opened, revealing dark blue pupils. The clasps on it's body formed a large purple bar on her chest, concealing her gem. Each of the gem's summoned their weapons as they prepared for a fight. The golem calmly stood up and did nothing. It just stared forward with a somewhat stern expression. The gem's waited for it to make some action, but it just stood there and did nothing. Suddenly, Talc shuffled around its side and to its front.

"Talc! What are you doing!?" Elbaite whispered.

"Just gonna try to talk to it! It's not doing anything yet so I don't think she's hostile." He declared, as he then looked up at the tall thing, who was now looking down at Talc, "So...Hi.".

The golem just stared down at him. Steven walked around and over to Talc's side.

"Uhh, what's your name?" Steven asked.

The giant's head moved slightly to the right to look at Steven.

"I am named Chrysoberyl." It stated in a monotone voice.

The other's eased their stances and looked at it with a less fierce expression. They let their weapons disappear and they gazed at Chrysoberyl with a sense of curiosity.

"It doesn't seem hostile." Pearl said.

"Yeah, I'd imagine something made by Feldspar to already be strangling someone right about now." Topaz joked.

"Whatever the case, it's creation doesn't seem natural, and if it's made by Feldspar, it can't possibly be good." Garnet suggested.

"That's not exactly the case. Sure I was quick to jump the gun on destroying her gem, but maybe I was wrong. It seems like it's pretty docile, and one of my best friend's came from a golem so we can't just say she's a menace." Tourmaline suggested.

Steven took a step towards the goliath.

"So..what's your deal?" He asked.

"I have been built and designed for one sole task: the destruction and death of Rose Quartz." It stated.

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven's eyes went wide at the statement. The others were a little less shocked, but still surprised at the statement.

"Or...maybe not." Tourmaline said.

The crystal gems summoned their weapons again.

"We have to take care of her now." Pearl declared.

Suddenly, Talc jumped in front of Pearl.

"Woah woah woah! Wait a second!" He declared.

"Move it! If we don't take it out before it figure's out that Steven is-"

Talc placed his hand over Pearl's mouth while shushing her.

"Don't just blurt that out! I'm certain that if it knew that Steven was...you know...it would've acted by now." Talc suggested as he turned towards the thing, "Hey Chrysoberyl! Do you have some sort of sensor or some magical thing to fine Rose Quartz?".

"Correct." The golden gem stated.

"See? So maybe we could use this to our advantage. Make her on our side so we have more ammunition against Feldspar." The whitish gem suggested.

Pearl grabbed Talc's hand and threw it aside.

"We can't take that risk! We have to get rid of it right now!" Pearl shouted.

Steven walked over to Pearl.

"Pearl! It's fine! Talc's right, we could make her our friend. We could have someone else to help us out against bad guys!" Steven suggested.

Garnet looked at Steven, and then at Chrysoberyl. Amethyst walked next to her tall leader. Garnet then pointed outside.

"Steven, wait outside. We'll discuss this matter privately." Garnet stated.

Steven's sincere expression turned to one of disappointment.

"What!? Why can't I stay here!?" He whined.

"Just as a safety precaution. This will only be a second." Garnet said.

Talc walked next to Steven.

"I'll keep ya company. Let's let the leaders talk about this." He said warmly.

With that, the two boys walked out into the morning light. The gems grouped up in front of Chrysoberyl, who stared at them with the same, unchanged expression.

"Do you think we should bring her home?" Elbaite asked.

"I'm a little uneasy with the thought of having an assassin in my home." Pearl said.

Tourmaline and Topaz glared at Pearl, who shot a skeptical glance at them.

"You're former assassins it's not the same." She stated.

The two men looked back at the golem.

"Be that as it may, having her around could be a great asset if we get her to lose the killing Rose mentality. I say we go for it." Topaz suggested.

Amethyst scratched her head and looked up to Garnet.

"Well...fine let's keep it. If anything we'll have enough power at home to stop her if she does go crazy." The purple gem said.

Garnet nodded.

"Then it's settled, we'll bring it home." She declared.

"Maybe we should stop calling Chrysoberyl an it. I mean, she looks female." Elbaite suggested.

"I don't identify as either male or female." Chrysoberyl stated.

Elbaite shot a glance at the gold gem and back to Garnet.

"Well we'll figure something out." Elbaite said.

"I believe you are finished with your discussion. May we go kill Rose Quartz?" Chrysoberyl asked.

Pearl's eyes went wide.

"No!" She shouted.

The giant gem finally started to move towards the group, brushing past Garnet and Amethyst.

"Then I shall go find her myself. There is no point for me to be around you." She said.

"Wait! Uhh, we'll take you to a place where you can find Rose!" Tourmaline shouted.

The giant gem stopped in it's tracks and looked back at Tourmaline.

"You will help me fine Rose?" Chrysoberyl asked.

Tourmaline scratched his head.

"Well you see the thing is...we have no idea where Rose is! She went on a mission a long time ago and we've been waiting for her! So the best thing to do is wait at her base." He lied.

The giant gem smirked a little.

"Will it assist me in the assassination of Rose?" She asked.

Tourmaline's nervous expression turned into a weirded out one.

"Uhh, I don't know you could probably jump her." He suggested.

"Then I will follow you to her base." She agreed.

Tourmaline let out a sigh of relief. Amethyst nudged his leg.

"Good thinking man." She complimented.

Suddenly the group heard a scream from outside. It was Steven's.

"Steven!" The crystal gems shouted at once.

The trio rushed out of the cave, the others following. Outside of the lab, the gems saw Talc, lying on the ground with a large gash on the side of his head, green blood dripping down his face. Elbaite rushed to his side.

"Talc! Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine! Go after Steven! Whatever nailed me grabbed him!" He shouted as he pointed west.

The gems ran the direction he pointed at with Elbaite hoisting the boy over her shoulder. The trio spotted a black being with Steven struggling to break free from her grip. Pearl summoned her spear and started firing at the being's feet. It looked behind to see the shots, but it leaped upwards to dodge out of the way. Amethyst leaped into Garnet's hand and the tall gem threw her towards the kidnapper. In midair, Amethyst grabbed her whip from her gem and lashed out at the figure. The mystery gem saw the attack and grabbed her whip, cracking it and knocking Amethyst away. The figure leaped backwards as it stared Garnet down. She grabbed a large stone with her free hand and threw it at Garnet, but the enraged gem smashed it with a single punch. Tourmaline leaped high above Garnet and dived down at the gem with a flying sidekick. The gem looked up at the impending strike and the gem on her arm began to glow, the light forming a single black gauntlet. She punched at his kick and the force knocked the gem and Tourmaline back. He bounded off the ground and Garnet stampeded forward. The black gem turned around and saw the warp pad. She jumped onto it, turned around and grabbed Steven's head with her gauntlet.

"Move another inch and I'll snap it's neck!" She screamed.

The other's stopped and glared at the black gem, now seeing her full looks. She wore a dark blue dress, had short, light grey hair, and wore a pair of black sandals. Steven struggled to be free, but her grip became tighter in response.

"If you hurt him I swear I'll kill you!" Garnet shouted.

"It would only be a small atonement for what you've done to me!" She shouted.

"What we've done to you? What are you babbling about!?" Pearl yelled.

The black gem growled.

"The kindergarten...there were many like me trapped underneath the rock, waiting to be freed. But because of your fight, the walls and ceiling of our chamber caved in! My friends...my loved ones...they all were crushed! Destroyed because of your foolish actions!" She screamed, "But no more...I know about you crystal gems. I know that you collect gems. So how about we make a deal?".

"A deal? What are you implying!?" Tourmaline shouted.

"I'll let the boy go if you give me all the gems you have collected!" The black gem declared.

The declaration got a rise out of all of the onlooking gems.

"What!? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! What could you do for them that we couldn't!?" Amethyst shouted.

"Protect them! Give them a good haven, away from your destructive battles! You'll bring nothing but disaster to them if they stay with you. I, on the other hand, will give them the perfect home!" The black gem declared.

"You're insane!" Pearl shouted.

"And you have no choice! Bring me all the gems you've forcefully taken away to the mountains in the sky in the next three hours, or your precious little boy dies!" She shouted.

With that, the two gems were engulfed by the warp pad's light.

"Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl! Help!" Steven shouted.

Pearl and Garnet reached out for the boy, but within the flash of light, he was gone. The gems looked at each other with lost expressions. Talc got off of Elbaite and looked at the crystal gems with an apologetic expression.

"I'm so sorry...this is all my fault." Talc said sadly.

Garnet clenched her fists at the boy, but managed to calm herself down.

"It's fine...none of us predicted that." She said.

"So now what?" Amethyst asked.

Tourmaline kicked the ground.

"We have no choice...I'll go grab the others. You guys start grabbing the bubbles." The boy declared.

Pearl grabbed her stomach, which started to twist itself into knots. She was on the verge of hysterics.

"I can't believe this...how could I let this happen!?" She shouted.

Elbaite gently comforted her. Pearl looked at the green gem, with tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's going to be okay Pearl. Steven's going to be fine." She assured her.

Pearl looked at her for one second before she hugged the gem, letting loose a cry of sadness. Chrysoberyl looked on at the emotional display with a sense of curiosity and confusion.

/**/

All the gems save Chrysoberyl were walking up the stone steps of the floating mountains. Each of them carried as many bubbled gems as they could. The others immediately dropped everything to help with the crystal gem's cause once Tourmaline told them about the situation. Each of them were very angry, but they did what they could to help. As they ascended upwards, they saw the black gem standing near a cliff's edge, holding Steven by the torso and her hand wrapped around his mouth. They all glared at the kidnapper with intense rage. The black gem smirked as she motioned her head to the side.

"Place them all there, near that patch of bushes." She demanded.

The gems complied with her order and walked over to the designated area. Obsidian was the first to do it, placing a bunch of of bubbles in the area. She glared at the black gem.

"Cowardly piece of shit." She growled.

The black gem chuckled. The other gems placed their loads with the other ones, ending with Pearl placing two random bubbles down, but looking at the final bubble. The one Steven made with all the homeworld gems. She knew Steven was important...but she couldn't imagine what sort of chaos might unfold if they were freed.

"Pearl just put it down!" Amethyst shouted.

Pearl snapped out of her thoughts and did as she was told. She ran back to the group and they all stared the evil gem down.

"And that's all of them?" The black gem asked.

"Yes, now give Steven back!" Tourmaline shouted.

The black gem let go of Steven's head and reached into what can be assumed was a pocket. The boy tried to wriggle out of her iron grip, but to no avail. Garnet stepped forward.

"We said let him go!" She shouted.

"In a moment. I've changed my mind, I want something else from him." The black gem said.

She pulled out a handful of silverish shards and moved them over to Steven's face.

"You know what this is? This is what remains of my beloved...the one I cared about the most. All the others were dust, but she got lucky. I know you possess healing powers...so heal her." She demanded.

Steven stared at the black gem's evil grin.

"And if I do, you'll let me go?" He asked.

"Of course! I'm a gem of my word." She said.

Tourmaline leaned over to Garnet.

"This doesn't seem right. I mean...what's her plan? To just expect us to let her go after she lets Steven go? We can easily take back what's ours." Tourmaline explained.

"Something's not right...stay on your guard." Garnet suggested.

Steven licked each individual shard, and the individual pieces stuck together and formed a solid stone once again. The black gem let out a satisfied hiss. She stood upright and held Steven by his shirt.

"Excellent...the deal is complete. Time to leave." She said to herself.

She let out a shrill scream and suddenly, a large energy field surrounded the area where the bubbles were placed. Ground and rock were lifted upwards, revealing the green exterior of a ship. The ship raced behind the black gem and from behind her, a large green ship shaped like a round rectangular hexagon rose up. The ship holding the bubbled gems latched into a place underneath the she ship and fastened itself in. A circle of grey light formed on the top of the ship and from it, a gem emerged. Messy, yellowish green hair partially covered her face, obscuring her strawberry colored skin. She wore a black sleeveless top that cut off above where her navel would be and a yellow skirt that cut at her knees. The black gem stared back at the gem with an excited expression.

"Liddicoatite! I did it just like the mistress told me to! You think she'll be proud of me!?" She cried out.

The gem smirked, but before she could speak, Elbaite stepped forward.

"Liddicoatite! What are you doing!? Can't you see what Feldspar's doing? It's insanity!" She pleaded.

Liddicoatite glared at her former friend.

"I know exactly what she's doing...and I support her views. Unlike you, who is too weak to understand how important this is, my eyes are wide open and I know what I have to do...for the good of all of us!" She shouted.

"You're delusional!" Uvite shouted.

Pegmatite let out a guttural roar at her former friend, and Liddicoatite merely rolled her eyes at their scoldings.

"Forget it. Instead of listening to me ramble on...how about you talk to the mistress herself?" She suggested.

Elbaite's group went sheepish, while the other gems continued to look on at the gem with caution.

"Wha...what?" Elbait uttered.

With that, Liddicoatite kneeled down and placed her hand on the ship's surface. Another grey circle formed and from it emerged a large metallic capsule. In the center, the form of a woman was glowing.

"The mistress was adding the finishing touches to her new body. She's just about finished so she wanted to make sure she let all of you meet the new and improved her." Liddicoatite declared.

With that, the body in the capsule began to twitch and stir. The gems stared on at the strange sight. The capsule began to spark with yellow electricity and the body seemed to finally be awake. It arched it's arm back and punched forward, breaking through it's glass casing and letting out a stream of grey fluid. Her form was obscured by shadow, but after stepping into the sunlight, the gems serious expressions turned to ones of shock and horror. From beyond the grave, Feldspar stared down at them, covered with the mystery fluid and with some...modifications. Her right arm was now completely metallic like the homeworld's technology. Pieces of her left arm, chest and right leg had patches of technology plugged into what could presumably be holes Her left shin was replaced by the metallic substance, she had a glass dome covering her cracked gem, and her right eye was no longer her original. It looked like how Pearl's eyes would go when she plugged herself into homeworld tech. Aside from a band of pink that slithered across her arm through the patches of technology that was implanted in her, she had the same outfit and appearance as she did in the kindergarten. She grimaced at the gems, staring directly at Elbaite, spitting out a load of the grey liquid.

"How disappointing." She said in her metallic tone, "I didn't want to believe that all of my children defected from me, but it seems like that's the case.".

Tourmaline and Topaz rushed to Elbaite's side.

"Feldspar!" Tourmaline shouted.

"What have you done to yourself!?" Topaz shouted.

Feldspar let out a small chuckle.

"I evolved." She stated.

"What are you talking about!?" Tourmaline shouted.

"You see my son...after I fell to what I presumed would be my death, it was all black. And in the next moment, I came back! Well...some of me anyway. Liddicoatite and Onyx found me as nothing more than an incomplete torso and head, but I managed to get them to work. Utilizing the parts of our ravaged ship, they built me a prototype body. It wasn't much, but it did for the time being. After that, we harvested the rest of the ship and the kindergarten's technology, making the ship you see before you, my new body, and other things. And now that I'm free...my plans for the homeworld and Earth shall continue unimpeded." She explained.

Topaz smirked.

"That new eye must be affecting your brain if you think we're letting you do anything like that!" He declared as he ran forward.

Liddicoatite got ready to attack the charging gem, but Feldspar raised a hand in protest. She then immediately charged towards Topaz. Her face was inches from his, and before the pale gem could react, the cybernetic gem punched him in the stomach with her mostly organic arm. Topaz coughed up a bit of blood from the impact, and then Feldspar grabbed his face with her robotic arm. The arm began to glow and Topaz yelled in pain as the energy in the arm began to shock him. With a single kick, she sent him flying backwards towards the gems. Black Pearl leaped up and grabbed her friend, landing with a crouch as she stared down at his cracking form. Tourmaline looked at his friend and then back to Feldspar.

"What did you do to him!?" He shouted angrily.

"I simply tested out my arm's destabilizing shock. It uses the same energy you see in destabilizers. That was on a mild setting. I can only imagine what my full blast will do to someone like you." She said sadistically.

The cyborg gem leaped back onto the ship and stared down at the party of enemies. Her eye caught sight of Black Pearl.

"Even the trash I helped in the past has now left me?" She said aloud.

Black Pearl grit her teeth and slowly let her spider legs come out. Topaz grabbed her leg and she looked down at his cracking face.

"Don't...be a fool." He gasped.

She stared at her friend and shook her head, letting her appendages return to their resting state. Feldspar scratched her head as she averted her gaze.

"No matter, you'll all be assisting me at some point or another. For now...Onyx! Let's go!" She demanded.

Onyx ignored her leader's order as the gem just healed began to glow. Onyx chucked Steven towards the group and Pearl caught the boy, holding him tightly towards her. Feldspar raised her one eyebrow at the sight.

"Oh...it's happening already." She observed.

The light from the grey gem created a human form in front of Onyx. The light from the outline dissipated and revealed a gem. She stared at the gems with cold, silver eyes. Her hair was short, messy and white. Her skin was silver, and her gem was on her left arm. She wore a long shirt that was coated with a series of dark grey lines over a white base that eventually ended with her white pants. The first thing she did was make her gem glow, forming a sleeve of silver spikes around her arm.

"You...all of you will suffer…" She uttered in a guttural tone.

Onyx wrapped her arms around the somewhat larger gem's torso.

"No Sillimantite! We can't win separated you know this! But as one...we have a chance. We killed a few of them before...and this time with mother's help...we'll kill them all." Onyx assured her.

Sillimantite's scowl shifted into a stern grin. She made her spikes disappear and she planted both of her arms onto the ground, cracking the stone underneath.

"Come onto me Onyx!" She cried out, "Make us whole!".

"YEESSS!" Onyx hissed.

With that, the black gem leaped onto her other half, melting onto her. Both of their gems began to glow, what looked like Onyx's hand slid up the silver gem's neck and to her face. It expanded and swallowed Sillimantite's face, eventually coating the gem's entire body in her black mass. Onyx's gem slid down her other's bare arm and rested in it's position opposite from the other gem. Suddenly, a wave of black energy erupted from the body. The others stared in terror as the force of the energy emitting from the bizarre ritual blew their hair and loose clothing back. The sound of an animalistic roar was heard as the black body began to pulse and grow. The form's already thick arms began to swell to massive proportions, along with the rest of her body. After a few seconds, the transformation was complete. The gems stared in terror as with a mighty stomp, the fused gem rose to her feet. She let her head roll back and she let out a sickening, guttural growl, followed by a smaller one as she did it again. She gazed at the gems with black and silver eyes. Pyrite was reborn.

"Once again...the exploits of the pathetic and weak amount to the inevitable happening once again." She declared.

Tourmaline summoned his grieves, roaring out as he rushed towards Pyrite. The rage within him had been reborn, and he had no intention of letting Pyrite escape now that she was within his grasp. He leaped up and kicked at her face, but Pyrite merely grabbed Tourmaline's foot. She slid back a few feet from the impact, but her hand and the rest of her body was relatively unharmed. She glared at Tourmaline with her usual sadistic rage.

"Tourmaline...I've been praying that I would get my hands on you first." She told him.

With that, she threw him to the ground , causing the earth underneath him to crack and crumble. She then stomped directly on his leg, breaking through the shin guard and cracking his gem. Tourmaline screamed out in pain and the other gems rushed forward to protect their friend.

"Get away from him!" Obsidian shouted.

Pyrite looked forward and while summoning her cestus and took aim at the crowd. She unleashed a flurry of black energy balls, causing the gems to scatter. She took the opportunity to leap back onto the picked up Tourmaline and Steven immediately healed his cracked gem. The ship slowly began to fly backwards, and their new enemies stared at them as they slowly went away. Pyrite kneeled down at the edge and looked at Tourmaline.

"Don't think you can rest easy Tourmaline. So you have the leftover scraps that my mother left behind, big whoop. You may have had your chance to kill me back then, but you squandered it! Now...Pyrite is here. And if it's the last thing I do, I'm going to make you and the rest of your maggot friends pay for what you've done to me and my mother!" She promised.

Tourmaline wriggled his way out of Tanza's grip and glared up at Pyrite.

"Consider that attack the best thing you'll ever do to me! I'm far stronger than I was when we first fought! I'll find you, and I'll make sure you're dead this time when I've finished you!" He shouted.

The last sound the group heard was Pyrite's laughter, and the gems disappeared into the ship, and said ship zipped through the air in the blink of an eye. The others stood together, the gravity of the situation finally sinking in. Their enemy had their trump card back, along with a large amount of force that they could unleash at any point in time.

"This has gone from bad to catastrophic." Lapis stated.

"Agreed...we've got a lot of planning to do." Black Pearl declared.

Tourmaline grit his teeth and stomped on the ground, creating a large crack in the floating mountain's side. He let out a roar of anger and ran back to the warp pad. Tanza summoned her boots and skated after him. The other's stared at the sight with mixed feelings.

"Let's just get Steven home. We have a lot to discuss and think about." Pearl suggested.

/**/

All the gems were talking near the couch. Each of them had a serious expression on their faces, save Tourmaline, who was completely enraged and Tanza trying her best to comfort him. Talc, Taz and Steven were upstairs watching _Crying Breakfast Friends_ television. The boy needed some time to unwind and relax in his own way, especially considering the turmoil he just went through. Meanwhile Chrysoberyl was up in Steven's room, sitting with her knees up to her chest as she observed the cartoon. She smirked at the crying antics with a sense of wonder.

"So first Feldspar has come back, and she's now a cyborg, and now we have Pyrite to deal with again." Pearl recollected, "So what can we do from here?".

"Well the obvious idea is that we stay together and keep focus on Pyrite. She's the main threat and can easily wipe us all out if we're separated." Lapis suggested.

"Agreed. Now that she's back in the picture, our complex problem has become a nightmare." Buergerite stated.

"As much as I want to agree with sticking around with you guys, I'm saying no." Topaz stated, "Think about it. Feldspar's got a lot of force with all those corrupted gems she snagged from us, and even more now that she has Pyrite. But the difference is that she knows we're scared of Pyrite, she knows having that power with her means that she can easily use her as a distraction while she does all sorts of other crazy stuff.".

Obsidian heaved a sigh.

"As much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to split up after all. I'll lead the party to go after Pyrite, while the rest of you focus on stopping Feldspar from doing whatever she wants to do." The giant black gem declared.

"I'll go too." Sardonyx said, "Obsidian and I are stronger than we were before, and we managed to do some damage to Pyrite way back when. I doubt the gem's gotten any stronger since then so hopefully she won't present much of a problem.".

"Those energy blasts didn't seem any weaker. Just because you're stronger doesn't mean you have any better chance with a single party then with all of us." Amethyst brought up.

"We were wore down from fighting the homeworld gems as well!" Jet argued.

"Which she may or may not force under her control and accompany Pyrite on whatever missions she'll send them off on." Tanza said.

Jet looked towards the tall purple gem.

"You think she can do that?" The small black gem asked.

"Well she managed to make herself a cyborg so anything could be possible." Tanza said.

"Alright. We'll just have to whittle down her forces little by little while attacking Pyrite when we can. Eventually we should wear them down and we'll be able to finally end this." Garnet stated.

Steven walked over to the edge of his room and looked down at the group of gems. Black Pearl was the one to look up and see the boy first.

"Is everything alright Steven?" She asked.

"Uhh, no. You guys are gonna want to see this." Steven said as he motioned to his tv.

The gems rushed up the stairs, save for Pegmatite, who merely walked over to the edge, got on her tip toes and looked in the direction of the television. Instead of the sad cartoon, it showed Pyrite standing against a lime green background.

"Heh heh Hahaha! The Pyrite marathon has just begun! I'm shouting at you live from the mudball Earth, for all the universe to hear! So my mother Feldspar says that she's fallen for a gem who loves Earth more than anything. You know her name. She's one of those famous defectors uh heh heh heh. So she decided to say screw the Homeworld and work with her to destroy the nasty place to protect her precious little mudball!" Pyrite shouted through her monologue.

The gems glared at the television.

"What is her deal?" Amethyst asked.

"And how did she fix the communications hub? We destroyed that a long time ago!" Pearl said.

"Oh! So you're all not guessing, the gem's name is Rose...Quartz!" Pyrite spat out.

Tourmaline's eyes went wide.

"She's goading the Homeworld to send reinforcements!" He declared.

Pyrite continued laughing, her long dark blue tongue slithering out of her mouth for a second before quickly moving back into her mouth.

"So, just in case someone...and I have a pretty decent idea who...wanted to come to our new home and try to crush our would be attack on your pathetic trash heap of a planet, THEN COME AT US WITH EVERYTHING YA GOT!" Pyrite roared out, ending with another laugh, "Until then, the Pyrite marathon...shall continue until we get a response!".

Pyrite continued to mug the camera as the other gems looked to each other.

"We have to go stop her now!" Garnet declared.

"No, we can't!" Topaz stated, "Don't you see? This is a clear trap! The instant we go to there, we'll be jumped by whatever contraption or forces Feldspar has.".

"So what!? We're just supposed to let them broadcast to the Homeworld and bring em here?" Amethyst questioned.

"I'm afraid so. First we have Feldspar's forces and now we're gonna have the Homeworld on our heels again. Things are really turning bleak." Pearl said.

Steven wiggled between Garnet and Obsidian and looked up at em with a smile.

"It'll be fine. We got a lot of friends, and we got the homefield advantage. The Homeworld is gonna try to destroy us, but they'll be looking at Feldspar's group first. We just gotta do our best to be sneaky with our missions and everything will turn out fine." He assured them.

Pearl looked at the ground and back to Steven.

"Maybe you're right. Feldspar wants us to be scared, desperate, but we can't give in. We'll stop all of this...and everything will be fine." She hoped.

The other gems nodded and they all turned away from the mugging tv. Taz flicked the television off. As the others walked past Chrysoberyl, she turned to Steven and extended her hand out.

"The crying objects went away." She said.

"Uh...yeah, sorry about that. There's not much we can do about that." Steven said modestly.

"I liked the crying objects." Chrysoberyl said sternly.

"...I do too." Steven said nervously.

/**/

In the deep, dark void of space, the Homeworld planet floated aimlessly in orbit. At the head building for the gem's world, Yellow Diamond angrily stared at Pyrite's taunting message. She grit her teeth as a small, timid messenger gem looked up at her enraged leader. She pounded the arm of the throne and the video hologram vanished.

"I want you to bring in my top warriors and send them to execute the traitor!" Yellow Diamond decreed.

"I..I'm already ahead of you. I've called in the top two commanders as well as-" The nameless gem said.

Suddenly, the main door to the throne room had opened. From the doorway, two gems came walking in with stern expressions. One of them was moderately tall, wearing an orange headband around forehead, wrapping her long red hair closely to her head. Her skin was blood red orange and her eyes were bright yellow. She wore an open, black fatigues jacket and red slacks. The jacket revealed a white band that covered her chest, and her orange gem placed on her upper stomach. The other gem had sky blue skin with short, rust colored hair. She wore a pure white suit with square holes cut around the rib area, and along her bicep. On her right arm was her rectangular, white gemstone. Her eyes were turquoise The two kneeled before the master with great respect.

"We've come to slaughter the traitor and restore peace of mind to the Homeworld my mistress." The blood orange gem said.

Yellow Diamond stepped down from her throne and gazed down at the two gems with her bright yellow eyes.

"Carnelian…" She said as she gazed at the blood orange gem, then panning to the other, "...Chalcedony...you know what your task is, correct?".

"We do." Chalcedony stated.

"Good. Your priority target is Feldspar. Destroy any and all fools that dare cross your path! Rose may not be our prime target this time but that doesn't mean if an opportunity presents itself you don't take it. We'll take as much of the Earth's forces as we can before we return and regroup." Yellow Diamond ordered.

"And...what of the Homeworld forces that may be alive?" Carnelian asked.

"Don't be a fool! If Feldspar has revived that monster Pyrite, it's obvious that they're all dead. So no warships or extra forces. This will be a bare bones operation. We will give them as little Homeworld technology to scavenge as possible. Now gather your other members and take the next transport ships to Earth." The leader decreed.

The timid gem approached Yellow Diamond as the two gems rose to their feet. Yellow Diamond glared at the gem.

"What?".

"I...already took care of the extra troops. I managed to contact the group shattered and they should be arriving here any minute." The gem said.

All of their expressions shifted from their serious tones to surprise. Carnelian was the first to speak up.

"You called those freaks to come assist us!?" She shouted.

"Of all the...how did you even find them!?" Chalcedony asked.

Yellow Diamond raised her hand up.

"Now now no need to get all feisty. You found my elites? Last I recalled they were busy touring the galaxy for a...pad as they called it." She asked.

"They were but...I sent them the message before I showed it to you and the sight of Pyrite and the mention of Rose Quartz caused them to come barreling towards us! I told them to come meet you in the throne room and-".

"Nonsense! I'll meet them at the hangar along with Carnelian and Chalcedony. It's the least I can do for such an esteemed and valuable group." Yellow Diamond said as she walked out of the throne room, "You've done well.".

The other two gems groaned in frustration, but quickly made it to their leader's side. The timid gem then grabbed her tablet from her side and started tapping away at it. She opened a communications screen and gazed into it. The screen produced a blank line that started to vibrate.

"This is Ametrine. Respond when ready." A smooth feminine voice said.

"Uhh...this is the Homeworld. Yellow Diamond is going to meet you at the hangar to brief you on your mission. I hope that's not too inconvinen-"

"Of course it isn't! We can give her our proper greeting with our ship! Thank you for letting me know, I'll address the rest of the group. Ametrine out!" The voice called out in a giddy tone.

/**/

Yellow Diamond stood in the hangar, wearing a cape fitted with large shoulder pads with Carnelian and Chalcedony at her side. She had a wide grin on her face as she eagerly awaited the arrival of the legendary squad. With them entering the fray, the mission was sure to be a success. Carnelian leaned back and looked at at Chalcedony, who also was leaning behind her leader.

"So...you think Ametrine and the crew has matured in the time we've seen them?" Chalcedony asked.

"It's a possibility, but like how a meteor full of raw diamond striking our planet is a possibility. I'm sure she's the same as she has always was." Carnelian answered.

Chalcedony let out a chuckle before looking back at her friend.

"I'm sure she's at least gotten stronger." The blue gem stated.

"Oh absolutely. But other than that I doubt she changed." The blood orange gem stated.

Yellow Diamond's eyes went a little wide as she saw the sight of a small ship in the shape of a hand fly towards them. The others stood at attention as they awaited for the team shattered to make their appearance. The ship landed back down and the palm arched upwards. There was a distinct silence for a second before the ship shone a bright white light. The three gems stared at the sight relatively unphased, and noticed five shapes emerge from the fingers of the ship. They leaped forward and landed in a perfectly straight line about ten feet away from the three gems. Then suddenly, the sound of music filled the hangar. It was a mix of 80s synth sounds and a guitar following the rhythm of the synthetic beats. The three gem's stern expressions turned into deadpan surprise as the music boomed as an epic theme. The forms on the outside left and right kneeled down with their arms wide open as if they were expecting a hug, the inner left and right got on their knees, crossing their arms in an x pattern, while the gem in the center of the mix held her hand out in a beckoning matter with the other hand on her hip. The sound of an orchestrated score replaced the 80s rock balad.

"From across the galaxy we leave our enemies frightened!" A gruff female voice shouted out.

"To destroy all forces who oppose Yellow Diamond!" A crazed, flirtatious voice cried out.

"To make all rogue gems look like total tools!" A young, chipper female's voice called out.

"And of course enforce our mistress's rule!" A high, girly voice echoed.

"At last, making our return to our beloved home, after ravaging the galaxy to which we roamed! So tell us what about those pathetic fools! We're here to show them that..!" A smooth, woman-like voice chimed out.

The orchestrated piece ended with the sound of a gong, and the 80s themed music returned. But this time, in a full motivational rock score that you would hear in old sports movies during the training segments. The outlines moved sprang from their forms in a twirling motion and stood tall, letting the music play out for a bit. Suddenly, they started dancing to the theme for a brief moment like a boy band would. They motioned their hands forward as their accompanying heel clicked to the beat of the music.

"..._Shattered gems rule! Shattered Gems Rule! Shattered gems rule!_" They all sang to the beat.

The forms spun around again, this time into a professional stance in a perfect line. The light from behind the rightmost gem faded away and revealed her smiling form. She was a tall wall of muscle, much like Jasper, but lacked any hair. Her skin was a mild purple, her eyes were a pretty pink, and she wore a bright pink tank top that had a door shaped hole, showing her abs and gem, with light green pants. From her gem, a serpent like figure twirled around it. She let out a loud roar as she puffed her graciously big chest out. She slid her right foot out and extended her arms out to make a K shaped form.

"I'm Kunzite!" She cried out.

The light from the leftmost gem disappeared next, revealing the next gem. Her skin was a chalky white, while her long curly hair was a blue green and her eyes pupils were purple. She was as tall as Kunzite, but not nearly as muscular. She wore a tattered and torn light yellow dress, and nothing else. She let out an animalistic cry and her body began to swell up, stretching out the torn dress to fit her body more. She assumed a mirrored version of Kunzite's pose and stared at Yellow Diamond with the same confident stare.

"Name's Spodumene!" She introduced herself.

The light next to Kunzite vanished next, showing another gem. She was much smaller than the other two, around Pearl's height, and had a form of a somewhat curvy young woman. Her skin was a bright peach color, with her pink curly hair reaching to her shoulders. She wore a somewhat low cut gown with multiple frills near the bottom with a diamond around the gem in the middle of her chest. She wore high heeled boots as well. She fell to her knees with a swoon and then assumed her own pose. Kneeling down, she placed on hand on her bosom while the other shot out to the side, palm facing outward.

"I'm Morganite!" She greeted.

The next light by Spodumene vanished next, leaving only one form to be revealed. She was a very small gem, a foot shorter than morganite. Her thick head of silver hair ended with various combed and groomed sections, adding a strange contrast to her mostly ungroomed head of hair. Her skin was light gold, her eyes were silver, and she wore a matching ocean blue T-shirt and shorts. She let out an odd noise as she brought her hands in front of her face in an odd pose, revealing her blue stone underneath her arm. She mirrored Morganite's pose with a somewhat serious look on her face.

"Danburite!" She exclaimed.

Finally, the remainder of the light disappeared, revealing the form of their leader, who was facing away from them, showing that she was a little taller than Morganite. Her golden pony tail fell down to her mid back, she wore a black biker suit with with orange lines going down the shoulder area and formed an orange pack near her waist, though it cut off near her triceps and shins, revealing her deep purple skin. She let out a somewhat audible hum as she quickly spun around three times before pausing, facing forward in a stylish pose. Her hand was holding the back of her head, and her other hand's middle and index finger's pressed against her thick lips. She was a somewhat busty woman, letting her suit open in a v shape, letting some of her cleavage out while letting most of her shoulder's breathe. She wore a pair of violet shades that masked her eyes, but the trio could assume she had a lustful gaze. Her gem was located right below her neckline. She flicked her two fingers towards Yellow Diamond while making a kissy noise.

"Captain Ametrine!" She said in a playful tone.

The group clustered around Ametrine, and the ladies assumed their own personal poses. Ametrine crouching down, with her arms extended in a double peace sign. Kunzite flexed outwards, showing off her abs and arm muscles. Spodumene stood on one leg, staring up at the ceiling in a pose that made her appear that she was leaping up towards the sky. Morganite was on her knees, which were clasped tightly together while she crossed her arms against her torso. And Danburite held her chin with one hand while she had another hand on her hip.

"We are the Shattered Gems!" They all shouted at once.

With that, the music ended, and there was an awkward silence. Yellow Diamond merely stared at the gems with her mouth slightly ajar, along with the other two.

"_Well, I was wrong. She's far less mature than I remember her being._" Carnelian thought.

Yellow Diamond's shocked expression turned into a smile.

"My...that was quite an entrance." She complimented.

The group fell out of their poses and stood straight, with Ametrine walking over to Yellow Diamond.

"Oh my mistress it's been far too long!" She called out.

She reached for her hand, brought it to her lips and gave it a kiss. She then looked to the sides to see the other gems. She beamed her brightest smile at them.

"Oh Carnelian! Chalcedony! It's been even longer!" She declared.

She kissed each of the gem's on the cheeks and they both blushed, staring at the gem with a stunned gaze.

"Oooooh, don't tell me you forgot how little Amentrine always greeted you!" She teased.

Carnelian started wiping her cheek with her hand.

"No it's just...we aren't used to this kind of a greeting anymore." She claimed.

"Aw what a pity. I'll be sure to give you a much more thorough welcome later, but for now...Yellow Diamond, it's an honor to have you call upon us once more to fulfill your whims." Ametrine said modestly.

Yellow Diamond chuckled a little.

"Yes of course. Now I suppose you know the details of the case. Feldspar has defected to Rose's forces, while reviving Pyrite in the process. If left unchecked they could easily become a threat to the Homeworld. Your mission is to execute Feldspar." The gem ordered.

"And what of Rose and Pyrite?" She asked.

"Leave them be. If I couldn't kill either of them you'll be destroyed by them. I'm sure Pyrite will go on a rampage once Feldspar is dead, so you can leave that mess for Rose to clean up.".

"Alright, we'll actively search for Feldspar. And if we cross paths with Earth gems?" Ametrine asked in a curious tone.

"If you think you can take them, be my guest. Just don't take any unnecessary risks." Yellow Diamond said, "These two will accompany you. Do not fail me.".

"But of course!" Ametrine agreed as she turned to her troops, "Laides! It's time to spill some blood!".

Each of the Shattered Gems raised their fist to the air.

"Yes ma'am!" They cried out.

Ametrine quickly turned back to Yellow Diamond.

"I hope you don't mind us taking our own ship." She requested.

"It's fine. Small enough to avoid detection while having a little fire power. That's perfectly fine with me." The leader agreed.

"Terrific! Now about our reward for all of this…" Ametrine trailed off.

"Oh yes of course how could I forget? If you succeed, I will award you...a new...pad was it? Yes a new pad of your own design." Yellow Diamond promised.

"Lovely! We've been searching all over the galaxy for a planet we could all be comfortable with, but they all were...less than desirable. So no place like home to make us all feel happy!" Ametrine agreed.

The other two gems leaped onto the ship, with the shattered gems following them. They all stood on the palm of the ship and saluted Yellow Diamond.

"You can count on us mistress!" They all said in unison before merging with the ship.

With that, the hand shaped ship lifted off and flew out of the bunker, leaving Yellow Diamond alone. She turned and walked away from the open gate, hoping to return to her throne. All would be fine now. Nothing too major, nothing that could possibly go wrong now that all of her elites were together. Now she just had to wait to hear the good news in a few weeks when most of this mess was cleaned up. After that day, and a bit more preparations being put into place, she would go back to Earth with a true army to crush Rose once and for all.

/**/

Back in Feldspar's dark base, the cybernetic gem was overseeing a series of pods filled with grey liquid. At the end of the assembly line of things, there was a large cluster filled with all the gems she collected, save the Homeworld gems. She had stashed them away in their own little cells for later. She would put them to use soon enough, but for now, she wanted to run some tests on what she had. From behind her, Pyrite stomped into the room with a wicked grin on her face.

"Alright, playing messenger was pretty fun. So now what do we do?" She asked.

"It's simple really. Now that the thought of the Homeworld and us attacking the crystal gems from both sides has been implanted in their minds, their fear will make a great catalyst for my plan's success." Feldspar explained.

"And you'll be doing what now?" Pyrite asked.

"Well I promised Liddicoatite that I would return Charoite to normal, so I've decided to run some experiments on these corrupted gems to see what I get." Feldspar explained, "Though I've decided to take some...liberties.".

Pyrite raised an eyebrow and gained a curious expression.

"Liberties?".

"Yes. You see...corrupted gems are quite powerful. Despite the lack of humanity, they possess strength far greater than what they would have as their normal selves. But the issue is you can't fuse a corrupted gem, so they stay the way they are. However...that doesn't mean it's impossible. They just need some...forced adjustments in order to achieve a higher level of power. So for now, I will see what I can make with my own genetic modifications." Feldspar explained.

Pyrite grinned.

"I see...and what of the Homeworld scum you insist I not kill?" Pyrite asked.

"Oh...they'll be fodder for the experiment in phase two of the process. For now...let us begin phase one." She declared.

With that, two large tubes connected into the large cluster of gems and sucked them out one at a time each. They all plopped into their own personal tube, and with a whirring hum, the liquid inside of the gems began to glow, and the gems began to bend, break and force themselves into becoming one with their partner. Feldspar began to laugh and Pyrite joined in with her mother. As the two began to cackle out, Feldspar felt a touch of euphoria she never thought she would feel again.

"This is what I've been missing in my life. The creation of something superior. Something grand! My life will have meaning now that I'm creating the next step in our race's evolution! And no one shall stop me this time!" She thought madly.


	31. Chapter 31:Anger

Chapter 31: Anger

The gems were outside on the beach side. Buergerite was grasping multiple pieces of gem tech and educating Pearl and Tanza on which part did which while the other gems, with the exception of Tourmaline, were relaxing on the beach. The other day had left many, many terrible predictions in their minds, so they were trying to calm themselves down so they could think rationally. Garnet and Topaz were sitting side by side, gazing at the sea.

"So, what's that third peeper of your say about our futures?" Topaz asked.

Garnet heaved a sigh.

"Sad to say, but I'm seeing a lot of outcomes where things end badly for at least one or two of us. I think I've only seen one possibility where everything turns out fine." Garnet answered.

Topaz scratched at the sand a little.

"I figured as much." He said modestly.

"It's becoming increasingly difficult to decide what's the right course of action for today. I'm not sure Feldspar and Pyrite are going to make a move of some kind yet, but I can't be one hundred percent certain." The tall gem stated.

"The best thing we can do right now is cover our bases and make sure our troops are at their best. In all honesty, I don't care that much about the Homeworld, we need to focus on Feldspar.".

"What makes you say that? Other than Pyrite.".

"'Cause at least the Homeworld's leader is sane. Feldspar's probably up to some creepy mad scientist crap right now. And if by tinkering with a gem or two made something like Pyrite, I'd rather not find out what she'll make now." Topaz explained.

"Which is why we need to find her as soon as possible." Obsidian called out.

The two gems looked back to see the hulking frame of their friend approaching them. She sat next to Garnet and looked at the two gems.

"Well that's easier said than done. It took me a while to track Black Pearl down, and at least with her I had some sort of lead. There's nothing with Feldspar. It's like she just poofed out of existence." Topaz said.

"Maybe we could take today to examine all the different warp point areas. Just let them relax for a bit longer before we go out and run some recon, see if anything's weird." Obsidian suggested.

"Could be risky. After all, what would happen if Pyrite just happened to be around and jump one of us?" Topaz asked.

"We could go in small groups." The large black gem suggested.

"Nah, Pyrite probably won't be picking fights with all of us. And if she see's a group, she might just not go after us." Topaz claimed, "If she sees a few, she might assume the rest are nearby. She's cocky, but I doubt she's stupid.".

Garnet growled in frustration. Obsidian put a hand on her former rival's shoulder.

"Relax Garnet. With our luck, she'll find us. But...that leads me to another point." Obsidian said wearily.

The other's expressions turned curious.

"What are you talking about?" Topaz asked.

"Do you guys think we should...leave Tourmaline out of the search for Pyrite?" Obsidian asked.

Topaz's eyes widened. He looked away and at the rushing waves as Garnet scowled at her.

"How can you even say that!? Tourmaline has lost the most from that...monster. Denying him the opportunity to take her down once and for all would be an insult to him and our dead comrades." Garnet argued.

"But that's my point. Tourmaline's the most eager to take Pyrite down, to the point where he rushed her out of no where when she revived. And what happened? Pyrite grabbed his leg and nearly shattered one of his gems. She wants to kill Tourmaline as bad as he wants to kill her. Face it, he's so bloodthirsty he might just end up killing himself over this. We can't let him get too close or he'll do something really reckless." Obsidian explained.

"But that's...Tourmaline just lost control of his emotions. I would've done the same if she managed to kill Pearl or Amethyst." .

"And she probably would've broken your hands.".

"That wouldn't happen! I know what her strategy is, and I'm-".

"Stronger and more experienced than Tourmaline." Obsidian interrupted.

Garnet was silent, and thought about it. Obsidian had a point. Tourmaline would do something reckless in some ruse to kill Pyrite. He'd put himself and the others at risk for his own desire, and that self destructive behavior could cost all of them their lives, or at the very least his. The visions she saw returned to her. Some shown with all of them dying, or a large number at the very least. But in each of them, Tourmaline somehow died first. She had to face the facts, Tourmaline couldn't be destroyed or else they were doomed. Suddenly, Topaz stood up and walked towards the house.

"Where do you think you're going?" Obsidian asked.

"To tell Tourmaline he can't come with us." He answered, "You're right. I've known him for nearly all of his life, and once he's gained bloodlust, he won't rest until his heel is pressed into the poor sap's skull. Only this time, there's a very good chance that the roles will be reversed.".

Garnet held her hand up towards Topaz.

"Wait!" She called out.

Topaz stopped in his tracks. Garnet stood up and started walking over to the pale gem.

"I'm coming with. It'll probably be better if he heard from both of us." Garnet suggested.

Obsidian followed behind her.

"Same here. I'm the one who thought of this, so I'm going through with it.".

The trio walked past the crystal chariot and up the stairs. Steven, Talc and Taz looked up to see the three of them enter the house.

"What do you think's happening?" Taz asked.

"I dunno. But if Garnet's there, it should go fine." Steven claimed.

/**/

The sounds of explosions and crumbling rubble filled the corridors of the temple. Tourmaline was again in his room, practicing with his grieves. The sight of Pyrite got his blood boiling and he was itching to take her down, so he started training nonstop since her message was broadcasted. The thought of avenging his friend's death raced through his head like a mad mosquito. He had to find her and he had to put her down fast. He punched a wall and a moderately sized crater formed from it. He looked at his hand to see his knuckles stained with green blood. He didn't care. He just had to make himself a bit stronger, and it would be enough to defeat Pyrite once and for all. At least that's what he told himself.

"_She's going to die. She has to pay. What happened earlier was a fluke. I'll be far more prepared for her next time._" He thought to himself.

While he trained, Garnet, Obsidian and Topaz walked into his room. They saw the craters on the floor and ceiling, as well as the chunks of rubble all around from every each side of the room, and then Tourmaline practicing his fighting skills. The three started walking towards him.

"_Maybe it's for the best that he doesn't refurnish his room._" Garnet thought.

Tourmaline did a spin kick through the air, noticing the three forms of his friends in mid spin. He landed on the floor and looked back at them.

"Hey. What's up?" He asked.

"Not much. We're all just resting up and trying to come up with a plan." Obsidian answered.

"Oh, good. How's that going?" The boy asked.

"Fine. We've decided to send people out individually to see if we could track down Feldspar's base." Topaz said.

Tourmaline smiled a little.

"Sounds good. Where am I going?" He asked.

There was an awkward silence as the three gems became visibly uncomfortable. Each of them knew what they had to say, but anyway they broke it to him, it wouldn't end well. Garnet was the one to step forward.

"Tourmaline...your reaction to Pyrite the other day was a little...extreme. I don't blame you for reacting the way you did but that move nearly cost you your life. If we somehow manage to find Feldspar or Pyrite...I don't think I can risk something like that again." Garnet explained in a serious tone.

Tourmaline's smile turned to an angered expression.

"What are you saying?" He spat.

"I want you to stay here until we get a better grip of the situation and have a handle on Pyrite." Garnet stated.

"Are you fucking serious!?" He yelled, "I have every right to face her and you're going to just bench me!?".

Topaz and Obsidian stepped forward.

"We're not permanently benching you, we just need you to take some time to...calm down before jumping back into action." Obsidian said.

"I'm not going to calm down. And you know it's because of a damn good reason!" Tourmaline growled.

Obsidian was silent, and Topaz stepped in.

"Don't raise your voice at us boy. You're an emotionally unstable mess right now. You aren't fit to run recon, and certainly not to get into a fight. We'll put you back in, but for now, you're grounded." Topaz said sternly.

Tourmaline scowled at him.

"You don't know anything about how I'm feeling right now!" He argued.

Garnet bent over so that her face was close to Tourmaline's. She was starting to lose her temper.

"Tourmaline, I know exactly how you're feeling right now, and that's why you have to stay behind." She said.

"Do you? That bitch is singlehandedly responsible for killing my three best friends! If Amethyst, Pearl or god forbid Steven had died instead, you'd be just like me right now!" Tourmaline yelled.

Garnet felt something snap. She grabbed Tourmaline by his undershirt and hoisted him up to her eye level. The scowl on her face was enough to convey that she was furious.

"Don't talk like that Tourmaline! I'm only doing this so that we have an increased chance of making sure that no more of YOUR friends or mine end up dying! You think I don't care about the comrades we lost? You think it's just a drop in the bucket, and that just because it's not my closest friends that didn't die it's somehow better? No! Death is death! And I'm going to do whatever's necessary to make sure that no one else ends up dying, and I'm not letting your selfish desire put us all in jeopardy!" Garnet shouted.

Obsidian reached over and put her hand on Garnet's shoulder.

"Garnet take it easy!" Obsidian demanded.

Garnet shot a glare back at Obsidian, and Tourmaline freed herself from Garnet's grip. He landed on the ground and glared up at Garnet. Garnet looked back at him and the two were locked in their tense staring contest. Eventually, Tourmaline broke away from her stare and looked towards the exit.

"You know what, screw this." He declared as he shoved Garnet aside, "I don't need to take this shit.".

Garnet glared at Tourmaline, with Obsidian looking on, concerned for her friend. Topaz merely shook his head. Garnet rushed towards Tourmaline, but he quickly sped off.

"Tourmaline!" She shouted.

"Leave me alone!" He yelled back.

"You come back here, now!" She ordered.

"You don't control me!".

Tourmaline saw the entrance to the house and sprinted to it. The temple door opened, and he leaped onto the warp pad. Pearl, Tanza, Taz and Steven were in the kitchen. Garnet rushed to the pad, still glaring at Tourmaline.

"Get off the pad before I yank you off!" She threatened.

"If you have so little faith in me, I don't think I should even be around here for now. I'm going to Obsidian's island." Tourmaline said.

The others stared at the scene, curious and concerned about the events that were transpiring.

"Tourmaline...I'm going to count to three. If you don't get off that pad, or you warp away, consequences will be ensured. One…" Garnet started.

Tourmaline continued to glare at her, ready to warp as soon as she said three.

"Two…".

Pearl and the others started walking towards the two of them. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and took a step forward.

"Thre-"

"Knock it off!" Topaz shouted.

Garnet glared back and saw Obsidian and Topaz run in. The stood on adjacent sides of Garnet.

"Tourmaline! Just calm down and talk with us, you don't have to run off!" Topaz suggested.

"Back off Topaz! I've had it with your stupid assumptions and orders!" Tourmaline argued.

"Tourmaline just listen to us! We've seen some things with Garnet's future vision. A lot of bad things, and most involving you. We just want to make sure you're safe. We only have your best interest-" Obsidian tried to explain.

"You don't decide what my best interest is!" He interrupted.

The others were silent. His words like a thunderclap, causing all other thoughts and emotions to become null and void. Steven timidly walked around the pad and to the side, where he could see both of the gems. Tourmaline and Garnet looked down to see him.

"Garnet..Tourmaline...please stop fighting." He asked sheepishly.

Tourmaline's glare and scowl faded into a tired expression, and Garnet eased up as well. She looked back to Tourmaline with a somewhat understanding expression.

"If you leave the island...consequences will have a new meaning." Garnet said.

"Noted." Tourmaline grumbled.

With that, he was enveloped by the warp pad's light, and he vanished without a trace. The other gems stepped towards their friends.

"Okay...what was that about?" Tanza asked.

Garnet sighed.

"Let me explain.".

/**/

Deep in the confines of Feldspar's base, Pyrite sat, legs spread somewhat apart. She was with Liddicoatite and Feldspar, the latter of whom was putting the finishing configurations on her latest piece of tech for the building. She had placed a grey bubble shield hanging low over a warp pad, wires from the base of said bubble snaking back to a complex generator of some kind. With the press of a button, a hologram projecting the world had appeared.

"Good. With this, we'll be able to track the enemy's movements at any given point. And given the right modifications, I can probably even guess who's arriving where." Feldspar boasted.

"Why would you even have that modification?" Pyrite asked.

"So I know who I should send to crush said person." Feldspar answered.

Pyrite cracked her neck by arching it from one side to the other.

"That's all fine and dandy...but does that mean you'll actually send me out to do something? I'm bored shitless just sitting here." The titanic gem complained.

Feldspar looked over to her daughter.

"I've told you many times that we have to bide our time in order for my plan to succeed. If I just have you running around gun's blazing, you won't have enough energy to handle the missions I'll actually be putting you on." Feldspar said.

"But-".

Suddenly, there was a loud pinging noise. The three gems looked at the monitor and saw the globe spinning to the Pacific ocean. It had a singular line pointing to a small circle. Feldspar touched the line with her robotic hand and it displayed a data sheet filled with complex words and numbers.

"Hmm..seems we have someone on the island. They're alone...and from the look of the numbers, it seems it might be Tourmaline." Feldspar relayed.

Liddicoatite raised an eyebrow.

"How can you tell?" She asked.

"I've included the ability to measure a person's height, weight, and gem placement." Feldspar explained.

Pyrite grinned maliciously and got up to her feet.

"I think I found something to entertain me." She declared.

Liddicoatite raced in front of the hulking gem.

"Whoa Whoa no you didn't!" She sputtered.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure I found something worth investing my time in." Pyrite argued.

Feldspar in the meantime was thinking, with her hand on her chin. She had plans for Tourmaline, but maybe she could use this opportunity to try another experiment if things go well for Pyrite. Liddicoatite turned to her leader.

"Feldspar! Talk some sense into her!" She demanded.

"Hmm...no. I think this will be a fine opportunity for us." The grey gem declared.

Liddicoatite's eyes widened even more by her leader's rash decision.

"You...you're serious." She stammered.

"Yes. But only with a few conditions." Feldspar stated.

Pyrite walked over to the warp pad, standing in front of the bubble, eager to get going.

"Sure, whatever. Name your price." She asked impatiently.

"First, the instant you see more of the gems, you run. No risks. Second, if you have the chance to, you can kill Tourmaline. But third...if you can't kill him, bring me a bit of his blood. Or anything from him." Feldspar requested.

Pyrite looked back at her mother with a questioning stare.

"Weird on that last bit but I'll see what I can do." She promised.

"Good. Now go have fun." Feldspar said warmly.

/**/

The sun shone brightly over the crystal clear sea. Tourmaline down in a somewhat relaxed position on the beach, staring at the sun's reflection in the water. He had a frown on his face, as he was starting to regret how he talked to Garnet. In the moment, he snapped at her in a way he didn't think he ever would. There had to be some reason that she decided that he was unfit to join in on the mission, and after reflecting on it, he saw it too. He was stressed out, angry, restless and emotional. He was handling this wrong. He had to rest, he had to calm himself down. If the other's had stepped in a second late, he probably wouldn't be around. He heaved a sigh and laid down. He looked up at the sky, admiring the white blotches spread across the bright blue canvas known as the sky.

"_I gotta go back and apologize to Garnet. The others too, but mostly Garnet._" He thought.

He sat back up, scratching the back of his head to shake the sand out of his hair. He turned his body as he got up and out of the corner of his eye, he saw something black rushing at him quickly through the foliage. He quickly got up and rushed at the black thing, grieves drawn, ready to fight. The black thing stopped in it's tracks when it noticed Tourmaline's intent to kill. Suddenly, a wave of fog came rushing at Tourmaline. He placed his hands up and covered his mouth to block out the potential poison. He landed next to the black thing and jumped to the side, ramming the being with his shoulder. The being let out a cry of pain in a familiar voice. Tourmaline looked at the potential assassin to see it was only Jet, now on her knees leaning against a tree. Tourmaline's eyes went wide as he removed his hands from his mouth to help up his friend.

"Oh god Jet! I'm so sorry, I just saw you rushing at me and I thought you were something...I don't know just something not friendly." Tourmaline apologized.

Tourmaline raised Jet to her feet and the grey gem gave him a sympathetic gaze. Tourmaline felt a chill running down his spine as Jet's big blue eyes stared into his. It's been awhile since they actually got to talk one on one, and she was very pretty. She averted her gaze a little, blushing light blue.

"I...I was just worried about you. We all heard you arguing with Garnet and she explained that you were feeling stressed because...well, you know. The others thought that you'd be fine on your own but...I just had to come and check in on you. Just to be sure." Jet explained, "Sorry I ran towards you like that, I didn't think you'd be so high strung.".

Tourmaline turned away from her and took a few steps towards the beach, his grieves vanishing as he walked. He turned half way around and motioned for Jet to follow him. She did so and walked onto the sandy beach. Tourmaline sat down in his original placement, and Jet sat next to him. Both of them gazed at the sea.

"It's beautiful." Jet commented.

"This is where me and Obsidian became friends." He said.

Jet looked over to Tourmaline. He was leaning back, supporting himself by planting his hands a bit behind him.

"Really? She told me that you met at a magma temple." She questioned.

"Did she leave out the parts where she tried to kill me?" He asked jokingly.

Jet's eyes went a bit wide.

"She tried to kill you!? I mean, she said you two fought but legit tried to kill you?". She said, exasperated.

"She wasn't the first to do that." The boy commented, "Sardonyx technically tried, but she was a golem at the time, but she still socked me in the gut when she was freed. Then there was you, who got the closest to doing it. Then Tanza and I fought. Not entirely sure she wanted to kill me though." He listed off.

Jet was silent for a little bit.

"Are there any people you care about that you haven't fought?" Jet asked.

Tourmaline shook his head.

"I had a match with just about everyone even...Ruby." He said, tiredly.

His arms went numb, and he fell back onto the beach. He heaved a sigh as he looked back up at the sky. Jet laid down gently and looked at her friend with concern. There was a bit of a distance between the two of them, and she debated whether or not it would be proper to get closer to him.

"_We're friends, so it should be okay right? I mean, he has a lover but it would be fine right? Oh Jet stop fussing in your head and just do it!_" She argued in her head.

She wiggled her body closer to him, eventually making it to his elbow. She slowly placed her head on the laid out arm, causing him to look over at her. She let out a small squeak, and quickly rolled over, turning his back to him. Her face was burning. Tourmaline couldn't help but laugh a little. He nudged himself closer to her and tapped her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder at his warm smile. She smiled and turned back over to him.

"Is there anything you want to do?" Tourmaline asked.

Jet sat up and gazed at him. Tourmaline sat up, somewhat confused by her actions. She then held her arms out, wide open.

"You need a hug. And some time to talk." She declared.

Tourmaline complied and wrapped his arms around the skinny gem. He brought her close to him and her arms went tense. His strong arms holding her against his firm body, it was a little much for her. She slowly raised her hands up to his back and placed her chin on his shoulder. They were silent for a few seconds, trying to enjoy the seemingly awkward moment.

"So...you were very close with Ruby." She said.

"Yes. She changed my life. She was everything to me." Tourmaline answered.

"And Sapphire and Tanzanite?".

"They were important to me to. Each of them helped me in some way.".

Jet nuzzled against Tourmaline.

"I can understand that. Losing people very close to you I mean. For centuries I've tried to protect my friends...but I couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough. It was too much for me to bear. And well...you know the rest." She said.

Tourmaline moved a bit away from her, not enough to break their embrace but enough to look at his friend's face. The look on his face was of concern and assurance.

"Jet...all of you are important to me. Losing Ruby, Sapphire and Tanzanite nearly destroyed me, you know this. It took a bit of help to get me back on track, but it was only with Topaz's help. He made me tell him about my dream. No...made me realize it." Tourmaline started.

"What..what was it?" Jet asked.

Tourmaline smiled.

"I want a place I can call my own. A safe place where I don't have to worry about fighting, or about any of you. I want a peaceful place where I can be me and we can be with each other.I just want a place where we can be ourselves." He admitted.

Jet just stared at Tourmaline. There was an awkward silence as Tourmaline held that same grin. She eventually started to giggle a little, and Tourmaline raised an eyebrow.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

Jet turned her head to the side and started to laugh a little louder.

"It's...it's nothing. I just never expected a tough guy like you to have such a cheesy dream." She chuckled.

Tourmaline frowned.

"It's not cheesy! It's super sweet and noble and stuff!" He whined.

Jet started to laugh a little harder, ending with a sigh.

"I know...it's a great dream Tourmaline. Sorry if I came off as rude but...it just sounded so cute hearing that from a badass like you." She admitted.

Tourmaline had a confused look on his face.

"Badass? I mean cool guy sure but badass?" He questioned.

"Oh don't fish for compliments you doof. You know you're hot stuff." She teased.

Tourmaline let her go and grinned smugly at her.

"Yeah you're right, I'm a badass. Strong, fast, and has a good heart." He laughed.

Jet let him go and pushed him to the ground.

"Oh stop it you crazy nut." She giggled.

He shook his head and laughed back. He got up to his feet and offered a hand to Jet. She grabbed his hand and he hoisted her up. The two looked at each other for a quick second.

"Let's go home. I got some apologizing I got to do." He said as he started to turn around, "I have to sort this out and...and...and…".

Tourmaline's happy smile jerked into a look of terror as he stuttered the last of his words. Jet, out of curiosity, looked to see what Tourmaline was staring at, and she instantly understood his fear. Standing at the edge of the forest, with a smug grin on her face, was Pyrite.

"Oh please, do continue. Let your last moments be happy." She taunted.

Tourmaline immediately formed his grieves again, moving in front of Jet and glaring at the giant gem.

"Jet, stay behind me." He ordered.

Jet clutched at her gem and drew her black blade, a stern expression coming across her face.

"No. I'm fighting with you." She declared.

"This isn't up for debate Jet, I'm not letting you get hurt." Tourmaline said.

Jet shoved him aside and stood next to him. Pyrite crossed her arms, amused by the turn of events.

"I'm not letting you fight alone, and I'm more than capable of facing her. I drove my blade deep into her chest and let my acid burn her from within her fetid body!" She yelled as her eyes shifted from their normal baby blue to the cloudy grey globes with small blue dots.

Pyrite let out a growling chuckle.

"Don't kid yourself brat, it took quite a lot punishment before your blade could even break my skin." The titanic gem boasted.

Jet grit her teeth.

"Alright, I'll just shove this down your throat instead. Won't have to worry about your skin then." She threatened.

Pyrite chuckled and let her hands fall to her sides.

"Cute words, but words nonetheless. It's been too long since I saw you Tourmaline, but now that we're here…" She said menacingly, tightening her hands into fists, "...we can settle this little feud we have going on.".

She summoned her black, spiked cestus and formed two black balls of energy. She clapped them together and a black shock wave radiated from the attack. Tourmaline slid back a bit from the impact and Jet nearly fell back from the force. Pyrite grinned at the two small gems and started to walk towards them. Tourmaline and Jet assumed a defensive stance, ready to dodge whatever attack the monstrous gem was going to do. She stopped about ten feet from the two gems and just stared at them. The only sound was the noise of the crashing waves. Pyrite stared directly at Tourmaline and frowned.

"I was hoping to find you by yourself, less of a mess to clean up. But I suppose I can take another friend from you before I finish you." She declared.

Tourmaline tensed up, tempted to rush her right then and there, but he recalled what happened the last time he tried that, and he managed to calm himself down. Tourmaline looked over to Jet.

"Jet...get out of here." He ordered.

Jet glanced over to Tourmaline.

"What? No. I'm not leaving you alone." She stated.

"Pyrite doesn't give a shit about you. She just wants me. So quit arguing and leave here before you get hurt." The boy said sternly.

Tourmaline then turned over to Pyrite.

"Pyrite! Let's not fight here! I'll take you somewhere where we can settle this without being interrupted." Tourmaline suggested.

Jet's looked at Tourmaline, baffled by what just came out of his mouth. Pyrite cocked her head to the side, intrigued by his suggestion.

"Tourmaline are you insane!?" Jet shouted.

"If you grant me this...I'll give you the battle you want so bad." Tourmaline said, ignoring Jet.

The giant black let her mouth open, letting out a hiss as she stared down the boy. Having her all to herself was an offer she just couldn't pass up. Honestly, she couldn't give two shits about his friends, she just wanted Tourmaline. If it weren't for her, she wouldn't have died. She would've been standing tall, her pride intact, but because of him, she nearly lost everything. Now she just wanted his gems, crushed into dust in the palm of her hands.

Jet then ran in front of Tourmaline, getting between him and the colossal gem. She pointed her blade at Tourmaline.

"Fine. If you really think leaving me out of the fight and facing her on your own is the only way, then you'll have to take me out before you get to her!" She declared, glaring at Tourmaline.

Tourmaline glared sternly at her, and Pyrite frowned at the scene with annoyance. What Jet saw as a noble way to potentially save her friend's life was merely a waste of Pyrite's time. The two stared at each other silently for half a minute, eyes locked, neither one moving. Tourmaline broke the silence.

"Stay out of my way Jet. This is my fight, and you shouldn't be involved." Tourmaline stated seriously.

Jet gripped her sword tighter.

"I don't have a choice in the matter." She argued.

"You're not involved in this! Now stand down and let me go!" He yelled.

"I'm doing this for you! So you don't throw your life away!" She screamed.

Tourmaline was silent for a second, taken aback by Jet's words. Pyrite, was still staring at the near soap opera style scene in front of her, her annoyance increasing with each passing second. Jet's scowl faded into a sad frown.

"Let's just go home." She begged.

Tourmaline looked down at the ground, and then back to Jet, a new fire in his eyes.

"I'm not going back until I know my home is safe." He said proudly.

Jet's frown turned back into her determined scowl. She opened her mouth to protest, but suddenly Tourmaline raised up his leg and did a quick sidekick, releasing a ball of energy. The ball sped past Jet's head and hit Pyrite's arm, the resulting explosion was nearly as big as Jet. Both gems stared at Tourmaline, stunned by his move. Tourmaline still had his leg held in the air, but he lowered it back down into a fighting stance.

"...And I won't let anyone stand in my way." He said sternly.

Jet gazed at Tourmaline, shocked by his action. That blast would've done some serious damage if it hit her head. For a few seconds, she thought he was serious. But then the idea of him purposefully missing her came into her mind. If he was as serious as he was, he wouldn't have made it a warning shot. She convinced herself she was still in control, that she could take him away from here, by force if necessary.

Pyrite looked at where the ball of energy hit her arm. She was a singe mark, her a big of her suit gone and her arm slightly singed. She didn't pay attention to his strikes in the past, but she remembered the first attack he used on her. That large blast of energy, all but a month ago, didn't even tear off her clothing. He truly had improved. But his current strength still paled in comparison to hers, so her confidence didn't falter.

"Just step down Jet, before I do something I'll regret!" He yelled.

"I will not!" She protested.

Pyrite finally stepped forward.

"I've had enough of this pointless banter." She declared as she rose her hand up.

Jet looked behind her to see Pyrite's fist coming towards her. Tourmaline rushed forward, grabbing Jet by the back of her dress and flinging her to the ground. He raised his knee up and struck the giant fist. The resulting boom could've been heard across the entire island. Tourmaline was knocked away, sliding into the shallow edge of the ocean. He stood there, glaring at the giant gem as Jet as laid in front of her, stunned by the turn of events. Pyrite glanced down at Jet with a twisted grin.

"You're in our way." She uttered.

Jet grit her teeth, grabbing her sword and jumped up at Pyrite, screaming as she thrust her sword towards Pyrite. The massive gem blocked the blow with her open palm, then lightly slapping the blade away from her. Jet swung at her again, and again, each blow as pointless as the last.

"I won't let you take him away!" She screamed, "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HIM AWAY!".

Jet raised her sword high and swung it downwards in an attempt to slash at Pyrite's torso. Pyrite clenched her fist tightly and uppercutted the blade, breaking it in half from the intense force. The sword vanished and Jet stared down at the sand. She felt tears form in the corners of her eyes.

"You can't take him...he's mine. He's my friend." She babbled to herself.

Pyrite stared at the distraught gem, disgusted by her weakness. She raised her open palm to her head, and a black ball began to form. Tourmaline appeared by Jet's side, grabbing Pyrite's hand and moved it to the side. Jet looked up at Tourmaline. He was calm, and stared at his nemesis with intense anger. He then looked over to Jet with a calm stare.

"I don't want to worry about losing you. Go home without me." Tourmaline requested.

Jet frowned and grabbed Tourmaline's arm. She held it as tightly as she could, for fear that she might not be able to do it again. Tourmaline turned back to Pyrite.

"Let me take her to the warp pad first. Then we fight." Tourmaline said boldly.

Pyrite shrugged and the ball of energy in her palm dissipated. The three gems walked through the forest and eventually made it to the warp pad. Tourmaline moved Jet's hand away from his arm, moving so that her grip with the other hand slowly faded away. She stared at him with a glimmer of desperation and worry, and he stared back with a steadfast gaze of pride and assurance. She hugged him one last time.

"I'm not letting you fight her alone. I'll tell the others." Jet promised.

"Good luck finding me." He said.

She let go and looked at him, stepping onto the warp pad as she did. The two gazed at each other for what felt like hours. Jet said one final thing before she left Tourmaline to his fate.

"Come back to us." She requested.

With that, the warp pad engulfed her in light, and she vanished. Tourmaline stepped onto the warp pad and faced Pyrite.

"Let's go." He said.

Pyrite stepped onto the warp pad and gazed down at the smaller gem. Her patience was wearing thin from the emotional episode that played out, but it was about to be rewarded. With that, the light of the warp pad shined brightly, and the two were off to their battleground.

/**/

Back at Steven's house, Obsidian was about to step onto the warp pad when it shone brightly. When the light vanished, it showed a hysterical Jet. She looked up at her friend with tears in her eyes.

"Obsidian Tourmaline's in trouble and I need help now!" She cried out.

Obsidian stepped forward and placed her hands onto the small gem's shoulders.

"Easy, easy! What's wrong?" She asked.

Jet heaved a little, and then looked around the house. Save Chrysoberyl, who was sitting on the stairs staring at nothing, it was empty.

"Where...where are the others?" The sad gem asked.

"Garnet took Elbaite and Dravite to the sky islands, Pearl took Pegmatite and Rubellite to the magma temple, Amethyst went with Steven, Talc, and Lapis to search in the ocean, Tanza took Taz, Buergerite and Uvite to look around the kindergarten again, and Topaz took Sardonyx to search the mountains. I was just about to go join Topaz's group before you came along. Had to squash a little gem beast that wandered too close to the house." Obsidian explained.

Jet shook her head side to side, grabbing her head and digging her nails into her scalp.

"No no no! We need more people and we need them now!" She cried out.

"What the hell is happening?" Obsidian asked.

"Pyrite found us! Tourmaline's going to fight her on his own!" Jet cried out.

A chill ran up Obsidian's spine as the name Pyrite was mentioned, and her concerned stare turned to one of fear when she heard the latter sentence. She then cast aside her fear and replaced it with a sense of kindled rage and determination to protect her friend.

"Where did he go?" She asked.

"He didn't say. We gotta go get the others, we need all the help we can get!" Jet said desperately.

"I have no idea where any of them are. I mean, I know general areas but they could be all over the places by now. We have to find Tourmaline first, and then we'll grab the others once we know the location." Obsidian proposed.

Jet nodded, and the two gems warped away from the house. Jet looked to the side, her worry for Tourmaline increasing with each passing second.

/**/

Tourmaline and Pyrite arrived at a dark field, old remnants of gem weaponry and skeletons of the deceased littered the dying grass. The sun was blocked out by thick clouds, casting a dark shadow over the depressing area. Pyrite smirked at the landscape.

"At least they won't have to give you a funeral. This place will do nicely as a grave for you." Pyrite commented.

Tourmaline was silent. The massive gem stepped forward, crushing bone and rock with every footstep. Tourmaline merely watched her as she walked forward.

"I have to hand it to you...you're braver than I thought. To not even run, to turn down the help of an ally just so you could let them live a little longer, you've got some chops on you Tourmaline. But gusto and confidence will only get you so far...and I believe you've gone far enough." She said confidently.

She turned around and saw nothing. Tourmaline had disappeared. Confused, she looked side to side, but saw no sign of him. She frowned at this fact.

"Where'd you go Tourmaline!?" She called out, "Your courage run out? You finally realized how pointless it was to fight me!?".

Meanwhile, a short distance behind her, Tourmaline stared up at her in the form of a mouse. He loathed being in a form like that, but he had no choice. He had to get the first strike by any means. So while distracted, he morphed back into his normal form. Pyrite quickly turned around when she noticed the flash of green light.

"What!?" She uttered.

Tourmaline then immediately rushed in. His grieves summoned, he kicked at Pyrite's stomach, using it as leverage to then kick at Pyrite's face. The great gem's head flung to the side with the blade scraping against her cheek. Tourmaline then punched at her chest with one hand, and grabbed her suit with the other. He hoisted himself up, clutching his knees to his chest, and shot them outwards at Pyrite's face. A glow of green energy emerged with the dropkick and after the initial impact, a green explosion engulfed her head. She leaned back, shocked from the force of the sneak attack, while Tourmaline landed a few feet away from her.

"Let's make this perfectly clear, I'm not fighting for pleasure. I'm fighting to see you beaten to a bloody pulp." Tourmaline stated.

Pyrite let out a guttural growl as she arched her back forward. Her face was revealed to have a small cut and multiple burn marks on it. She gnashed her teeth at Tourmaline in a vicious scowl.

"Vexatious little bug." She growled.

With that, she rushed forward, thrusting her fist forward at Tourmaline. The boy dodged out of the way in the nick of time, the force of the blast causing his jacket to slightly flutter. He jumped back forward and kicked at his opponent's face, only for it to be blocked by a massive arm. He dropped to the ground and kicked her knee, the blade merely scraping off the massive body part instead of sinking into her flesh and bone. Pyrite grabbed Tourmaline by the head, picked him up and immediately slammed him into the ground. Tourmaline landed on his hands and knees, looking up to see her massive foot right above his head. He rolled to the side, avoiding the blow. Bone, rock and dirt spurted out in different angles as Tourmaline got to his feet. He jumped onto Pyrite's torso and swung himself around her massive frame, landing with his legs crossed around her neck as tightly as he could make it. He raised his arm up to the sky and then repeatedly slammed his elbow into her head. Pyrite grit her teeth from the repeated, annoying impacts, but she manage to grab Tourmaline and fling him off of her. He flipped mid air and stared down the massive gem, who's grimace turned into a mad grin.

"And here I thought I could just stay in my base form to kill you. Seems like I was wrong. So how about I change into a more...familiar form for you?" She requested.

With that, she brought her elbows in close to her torso and began to charge up black energy. She let out a loud yell as the energy from her arms began to make her body swell up and increase in size. Tourmaline stared on as Pyrite's muscles began to tear through her suit, and her eyes change into the twisted, pools of iron that he remembered staring at him on that fateful day. She grinned at his deterred expression as she relaxed her stance.

"Guess the fear's finally coming back to you. It's okay, there's no shame in being afraid. But look on the bright side, you'll be reunited with your pathetic friends in a few minutes." She taunted.

Tourmaline relaxed his fighting stance and put his battle face on again. He stood up straight and grabbed the top part of his jacket.

"You're wrong...I'm not the same gem you faced before." He said, silently masking anger.

The let the jacket fall off of his body, revealing his arms, etched with scars and burns from numerous battles he has had in the past. When he regenerated, he decided to keep all of them, as reminders for each event that has happened in his life so he never forgets. The jacket hit the ground with an audible crack as the bones of a poor soul splintered under its weight. Tourmaline arched his neck to the side, producing a loud, audible crack. Pyrite stared on at the odd ritual, confused by the splintering bones. She looked at the jacket, and noticed that on the inside, there were a number of large pockets, each stuffed with a brick of some sort of grey and spotted rock.

"So, you weighed your jacket down with rocks?" She questioned.

"Not just any rocks, Granite." Tourmaline answered.

"Alright then, and how much did that weigh exactly?".

"Six-hundred pounds.".

Pyrite blinked at his answer. He weighed himself down by a considerable amount. All this time he was holding back as well. But how would a bit less weight shift his chances of defeating her in her current state? There was only one way to find out.

"Heh heh, an admittedly impressive feat, but you'd have to have dropped a ton of weight if you think that boost is enough to keep up with me." She boasted.

Tourmaline ignored her and started charging up his gemstones. He went into a horse riding stance, letting out his own yell as his stones began to glow, crackling with lightning as he began to pump himself up. Pyrite just stood there, entranced by the lightshow he was producing. Her grin grew wider. Tourmaline has clearly reached a new level of strength, and she was ready to see it in action. The light from his gems vanished and he glared at her. She pointed towards him, then turning her hand upside down and beckoning him over with her finger.

"This ends now!" Tourmaline shouted as he ran forward.

His speed was astounding. Within the span of three seconds, he managed to rush across the great distance between him and her and leap up to her head. He kicked her face with a roundhouse with enough force to spin around. Tourmaline landed on his feet, grinning at the impact of the attack. Pyrite's head was twisted to the side from the massive impact, and she showed no signs of movement. The chrome blood on his blade now covering most of the top half was proof enough that he was making better progress.

"So, this is the extent of your new power?" She asked.

Tourmaline's grin faded away to a surprised gaze. Pyrite turned her head back towards him, a smile on her face and a small hole in her right cheek.

"I'm sorely disappointed. From all that talk and bravado I thought you were at least on equal terms. But from the looks of it, you can still only get so far." She said maliciously as she stepped forward.

"You...you have yet to even comprehend what I'm capable of!" He protested.

Pyrite laughed.

"I know exactly what you're capable of boy, and I want to see it again. If it weren't for my bad eye, you would've died that day. But now, you're all alone with no assistance. You think you've come here thinking you've become my predator, but you'll always remain my prey." She said devilishly.

With that, she thrust her fist deep into Tourmaline's stomach, the impact of the blow sending pain to every fiber of Tourmaline's being. He felt her spikes sink deep into his gut, and then Pyrite struck at this face. Her spiked fist collided with Tourmaline's face with an inhuman amount of power, sending the young gem flying backwards. He bounded on bits of bone and weaponry, but eventually rolled to a stop. Pyrite grinned at her work and started to walk forward towards the downed Tourmaline. He jumped up from his downed position, revealing the gash on his face and the hole in his stomach. The wounds healed themselves with a glow of green light, and he glared at Pyrite.

"Good to see that you can at least take a punch now. But your own power still leaves much to be desired." The titanic black gem laughed.

Tourmaline tensed his muscles as he readied himself to move.

"My mistake was thinking I grew strong enough to treat you like a normal opponent. I hope that last attack gave you some pleasure, because it's the last time you're going to hit me." He said with a determined tone.

Pyrite chuckled.

"And your second mistake is thinking that I won't be able to catch you." She said before she charged forward.

/**/

Obsidian and Jet arrived at the great boneyard, with Jet clinging onto Obsidian's arm tightly. It had been a half hour and neither of them saw any sign of Tourmaline in the areas that they searched. Before they could declare the area bust, they heard a massive explosion. They looked behind them to see a large cloud of black and green. They found Tourmaline and Pyrite. Obsidian summoned her hammer and looked down at Jet.

"Jet, go back and grab the others. Find Garnet and Topaz's group first, and get here immediately. I'm not too sure how well Tourmaline's doing, but I think the two of us can handle keeping her here. We'll pin this bitch down and end her once and for all." Obsidian ordered.

Jet let go of her friend's arm and nodded. Obsidian rushed forward to the chaos. Meanwhile, Tourmaline was dashing around Pyrite, looking for a good time to rush in. He was covered in welts, blood and burns while Pyrite only had a few cuts and singes. She was right. She could still catch up to him, she could still hit him hard, so he had to wait for each moment to be a perfect one. Pyrite on the other hand was firing a barrage of small balls of black energy, tracking Tourmaline's fast movements. Tourmaline managed to get a bit ahead of Pyrite's gaze, and he dashed in towards her. He leaped up into a flying side kick, but the blow was grabbed by Pyrite. Stuck in a familiar, bad situation, Tourmaline thrust his other leg forward and shot out a ball of green energy at Pyrite's face. As he fell backwards, she lunged forward, grabbing his arm and slamming him into the ground. She stomped on his face, firmly planting her boot on his head, and started pulling at his arm.

"Let's see what will give out first, your arm or your head!" She yelled sadistically.

As Tourmaline tried to push the massive boot off of his face, Pyrite stared down at the pitiful sight, laughing as she felt her much desired vengeance drawing nearer. Suddenly, she was smacked in the stomach by something heavy and fell back onto her backside. Tourmaline let out a pained cry as the foot was removed from his face. The titanic black and silver gem looked up to see Obsidian glaring at her, markings glowing and fire leaking from the corners of her mouth. Tourmaline shook his head and spat out a bit of blood as he got to his feet. He looked back to see Obsidian.

"Damn it...Jet works fast." He panted.

"Not what I'd say to someone who saved my life, but whatev…" Obsidian started.

She stared down at the boy and noticed a bloody green stump where left arm used to be. Pyrite looked at her hand to see that in her grip was the boy's arm. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight, while Obsidian had a concerned look on her face as she gazed at her injured friend.

"Tourmaline! Oh no, I didn't think that attack through! I thought she'd let go if I hit her hard enough and...god damn it I can't believe I maimed you like this!" She cried out.

"Hey, don't take all the credit. I got my own personal trophy right here." Pyrite joked as she got up.

She held the arm out and crushed it in her iron grip. She had enough of his blood on her hands to bring back to Feldspar, but it never hurt to spring for extra credit.

"Well so much for showing me your maximum potential now. But it'll be fine to tear the rest of you up.".

Tourmaline got up and glared at Pyrite.

"That's where you're wrong. You've already seen my full potential. And as for tearing me apart, it'll be kind of hard…" Tourmaline said.

He let out a growing grunt, and then a yell as a fresh new arm sprouted from the open wound. Obsidian and Pyrite's eyes went wide with the trick.

"...when my parts keep coming back.".

"I...when did you learn how to do that?" Obsidian asked, baffled.

"Since a long time ago." He joked.

Pyrite shrugged her shoulders.

"Whatever, I'll just have fun doing it over and over." She said.

Obsidian shook her head and glared down at Tourmaline.

"This is what me, Garnet and Topaz were talking about earlier. You're eager to throw yourself at this thing! She'll can easily crush you, even if you got stronger! I've improved a lot, but that doesn't mean I go looking for fights I know I'll lose! What if I didn't come here when I did? You would've been dead!" She scolded.

Tourmaline's sturdy composure faded into a depressed slouch. Obsidian continued to glare at the boy.

"Well!? Are you going to talk to me or not!?" She yelled.

"You're right." Tourmaline admitted.

Obsidian paused, her scowl changing into a curious gaze. Tourmaline looked back at her with a solemn gaze.

"I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I feel like I need to." He went on.

Pyrite's grin changed into an annoyed frown.

"_Oh god not this emotional bullshit again._" She complained in her head.

Obsidian stepped next to him.

"Why do you feel like you need to?" She asked.

"Because...Because…" Tourmaline uttered as he averted his gaze, "...Because I owe it to my friends. I wasn't strong enough...what I did wasn't enough to save them. They were my everything, they changed my life. Now that they're gone...I feel lost. Even with all of you, it's just empty. The only thing I think I can do to make up for my mistake is to make sure she isn't around anymore to hurt people.".

Obsidian placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Tourmaline...you did everything you could to stop her. None of us blame you, in fact we're thankful that you managed to pull through when you did. Losing your friends, especially those three had to have hurt you badly. Hell you'd have to be some kind of, well monster to not be affected by that. But killing Pyrite won't bring them back. It won't cleanse your soul or mind or whatever you think will happen. But you can at least be sure that we will stop her, and that we'll make sure no one else will have to die." Obsidian promised.

Tourmaline looked up at her friend and smiled. Suddenly, a ball of black energy buzzed right between the two gems. They looked back with shocked expressions to see Pyrite with her hand stretched forward.

"Are you done with all the hugging and caring? Cause the boy and I were in the middle of a fight." She said, annoyed.

Obsidian gripped her hammer, and entered her fighting stance, along with Tourmaline.

"Alright. So you admit going after Pyrite alone was stupid?" She asked.

"Yes." He answered.

"You admit that you'll listen to your friends?".

"Only if you listen to me too.".

"And...you admit that the two of us having a fighting chance against her is really dumb?" She asked with a smile.

"The dumbest." He laughed.

"Okay just wanted to make sure we're on the same page!" She called out.

The two gems charged at Pyrite, with the massive gem rushing towards them as well. Tourmaline leaped up to strike high while Obsidian brought her hammer back to strike low, but Pyrite countered by shooting a ball of black energy at Tourmaline and countering the hammer strike with a single punch. The force was enough to swat Pyrite's massive fist away from her, and Obsidian kept striking at the large gem. Tourmaline landed some feet away from the two fighting gems, but shook off the blast and rushed back in. Obsidian kept swinging at Pyrite, but the massive gem grabbed the shaft of the massive hammer, pulling the smaller black gem in and delivering a vicious headbutt, followed by an uppercut, launching her into the air. Tourmaline grit his teeth as he began to run in circles around Pyrite, getting closer to her with each rotation, hoping the odd display will give him enough time to attack. But when he got too close, Pyrite grabbed him by the back of the shirt.

"Too slow." She said.

She threw him up into Obsidian, who was falling back down and the boy bounded off of her and back to Pyrite. The massive gem brought both of her fists to the back of her head and swung them forward, slamming Tourmaline away from her. As the boy rolled through the refuse and debris, Pyrite aimed her hand forward, a black ball with a small silver node inside forming. Before she could fire, Obsidian slammed her hammer into the side of her ribs, then unleashing a torrent of fire. Pyrite stumbled to the side from the impact of the blow, she then reached back and grabbed the black gem by the hair, swinging her overhead and back down into the ground. She finished off the attack by swinging the ball right into Obsidian's stomach, sending her flying towards Tourmaline. The boy was just getting back up, barely. He was in much worse shape than he thought, and regenerating the arm took a bit out of him on top of it. He was about to stand, when suddenly Obsidian's body tackled him. The two gems rolled a bit of a distance to the giant skeletal remains of the beast that Tourmaline's father fought all those years ago. Pyrite stared at the gems from their great distance, and started walking calmly towards them.

"I'm pretty sure we're getting our assess handed to us a little faster than you thought we would." Tourmaline commented.

"Yeah, I'd say so." Obsidian said as she painfully got off of Tourmaline, "If you have any last ditch efforts, now's the time.".

Tourmaline stood up with Obsidian. He stared intently at her and realized that she was the key to victory, and he was as well.

"Yeah...I think I got one." He assured her.

"Really? Since when?" She asked as she turned around.

Tourmaline grabbed her by the hand and ran to the ribs of the giant beast.

"About nowish." He said.

Tourmaline tossed her inside of the ribcage while Pyrite was getting closer and closer to them. She was toying with the two gems, which hopefully will give them enough time to go through with Tourmaline's plan.

"Your plan is to hide? Cause that's not much of a last ditch effort." Obsidian said, confused.

"It's only temporary. There's only one way we're gonna survive, we gotta fuse." Tourmaline declared.

Obsidian's jaw went slightly ajar when she heard his offer.

"Tourmaline...I don't think I can do it. I never fused before, not even with Sardonyx." She admitted.

Tourmaline held his hand out.

"Neither have I, but no better time than when we're staring death in the face." He joked.

Obsidian smiled and took Tourmaline's hand.

"Let's do this.".

Pyrite continued to walk over to the great ribcage and smiled with glee. The warriors so keen on fighting earlier now are just rats scurrying away from her. She summoned two balls of black and silver energy, ready to finish them off. She grinned as the anticipation of seeing the two of them die was driving her walk to turn into a slight run. She made it to front of the ribs when a flash of green and black light appeared. Confused by the sudden act, the balls of energy she formed disappeared. She rushed forward to see the outline of a roaring panther appear, and then there was a massive explosion, obliterating the great ribs that caged the mysterious being of light. Pyrite covered her eyes to shield herself from the bright light. When she looked back, amongst the clouds of dust, was something monstrous. It was a fusion.

"Enraaah!" It roared as it flexed it's body and stood up.

The mysterious fusion stepped forward from the shadows and glared down at Pyrite with eyes like blue and orange hellfire. Her face was chiseled and muscular, and her teeth, gnashed in a scowl, looked like they had teeth of their own resting a bit behind them. Her body's muscles bulged and pulsed as she moved forward, her dark orange skin flickering from it's supposed original color to a yellow green in various patches and places like a kindled flame. She wore a black tank top that was torn on the bottom, revealing her gem on her stomach, and red pants that were covered in slashes, showing a bit of her leg gems. She was nearly three times as big as Pyrite, and every centimeter of her emitted anger and bloodlust.

"You…"It uttered in a booming, demonic voice.

Pyrite stepped back, a sense of fear building up in the back of her mind.

"...Your stench is repugnant. I know about you from my other half's memories, the disgusting acts that your pig hands have wrought against him. You are not worth to occupy the very air that we accompany! I annihilate you you pathetic, wretched, scum!" It roared out.

With that, she flexed her body forward. A light formed Obsidian's hammer while what appeared to be Tourmaline's grieves flew up to them. The head of the hammer and the entirety of the grives melded together and formed a long, jagged, rectangular object in front of the shaft, with two lines connecting to the shape. The light vanished and revealed a very peculiar axe. It was like a giant razor blade, with a green and black blade. The fusion grabbed the razor and raised it high like a hammer.

"I'll crush you!" It roared.

A light surged from her shins and went up into her arms. As she swung the blade down to Pyrite, a green light enveloped the sharp edge. Pyrite managed to jump out of the way of the massive blade, but the strike triggered a blast of insane proportions. It was like an explosion of green napalm. The blast sent Pyrite slidding through the field. She managed to roll back onto her feet only to see the giant dangerously close to her. The beastly gem swung her razor at Pyrite with one hand. Pyrite managed to dodge the first strike, but she was then met with a massive fist. She rolled closer to the titan of rage, but the fusion reacted by inhaling, and then releasing a torrent of glowing green ooze from her maw. Pyrite leaped out of the way, but the splash of the mysterious goo got some of it onto her chest. She cried out in pain as it burned right through her skin and ate away at her insides. She clutched her chest in pain as she gazed up at the monster. It's jaw was open wide as it roared, revealing that behind her set of knife like teeth, there was an extra set of needle like teeth in her mouth. The green acid stained her snow white teeth and drizzled down every other part of her lower lip and chin. It rose back up and struck at Pyrite with her fists, abandoning her weapon. Pyrite finally counterattacked with a ball of deadly black energy. The blast hit the monster in the eye, and it let out a pained growl. It's eye was revealed to be fine, but it still didn't make the beastly gem any less angry. Her arm pulsed black and red as she readied another punch.

"Stop struggling and die!" It demanded as it punched down at Pyrite.

Pyrite barely dodged out of the way, but like deja vu, she was hit by an intense blast of energy. This blast was like a geyser of hellfire broke out from the earth's core itself. Pyrite was almost roasted at this point. She had to get out, she was going to die if she stayed.

"_Damn it! Things were going so well! And that brat's friends will be arriving soon. Guess I have to run._" She thought.

With that, she fired two balls of black energy at the monster, only for them to be swatted away. Pyrite took the opportunity to run to the warp pad. It couldn't be no less than a hundred yards away, and she could easily make it.

"No! Face your death with dignity you coward!" The beastly fusion screamed.

It reached out and rushed after Pyrite, but the black gem was just out of her reach. With a flash of light, Pyrite vanished. The fusion grit her teeth and tightened her fists.

"She...got...a...way…" She seethed.

Her body glowed red and green, and she flung her body back up and roared out in rage, a wave of green and red energy came forth from her body.

/**/

Jet came back with the rest of the gems at the forgotten battlefield, barring Steven's group. The gems stared on in shock and terror as they saw the once morbid and bleak field was in flames, with mysterious pools of green liquids littering the area. Garnet stepped forward and observed the the green pools. She held her hand near it and felt it's intense heat. The others moved to various places to see what could've caused such destruction.

"Pyrite isn't here, so that's a plus." Topaz said.

"What I would like to know is what caused all of this." Elbaite questioned.

Dravite walked over to a massive pool of the green stuff and then noticed bubbles. She stared at the liquid surface with curiosity, and then a giant gem rose from the place with a might roar. Dravite immediately ran back to the others, and who all were staring up at the massive being. They all drew their weapons and got ready to fight as the beastly gem stomped towards them. It stopped when it's feet were only one step away from crushing them. It stared down at the crystal gems, breathing heavily as it glared down at them.

"What the hell is that?" Sardonyx asked.

"A creation of Feldspar's?" Dravite suggested.

"I don't know but...wait a second." Topaz said, "Look at her stomach, and at her legs!".

The gems looked up and saw a black, circular stone embedded in the giant's stomach, and two familiar slabs of gemstone on her shins. The group eased their scowls into looks of astonishment as they all came to the same realization.

"My word...Tourmaline? Obsidian? Is that you?" Jet asked.

The giant let out a guttural roar as she moved her head forward. She then felt a sudden pain in her head, like it was splitting open. She winced in pain and grabbed her head as she felt Tourmaline and Obsidian wanting to be free. So she complied and reverted into light, shrinking down in size and producing Tourmaline and Obsidian. Both gems were lying on the ground, but managed to sit up.

"Oh man...that was something." Obsidian said tiredly.

"Got that right." Tourmaline agreed.

The gems ran over to their friends, with Sardonyx and Dravite going for Obsidian while the others went to Tourmaline.

"Guys! What the hell was that?" Elbaite asked.

"That...was Fire Agate." Tourmaline uttered, "We fused as a last ditch effort to take down Pyrite, and it worked. Kind of.".

"Kind of?" Topaz repeated.

"She ran away." Obsidian said, "Probably scared shitless by her.".

"And the field?" Garnet asked.

"She uh...threw a tantrum when Pyrite escaped." The boy answered.

Garnet and Topaz's attention shifted to the boy, and their moods shifted to anger.

"Well now that that's answered, we can move onto how much trouble you're in Tourmaline!" Garnet yelled.

Obsidian tried to stand up, but Sardonyx motioned her to rest.

"Garnet! Leave the boy alone, he's learned his lesson and nothing bad came of it." She protested.

"It doesn't matter if something bad didn't happen or not! Tourmaline deliberately disobeyed orders and went on what was basically a suicide mission! He needs to learn a lesson!" Garnet shouted.

Jet stepped forward, but no one paid her any mind.

"Um...can you all please just stop." She said quietly.

The group ignored her and continued talking about Tourmaline. Topaz stared at the disappointed and tired boy with a gaze halfway between sympathy and disappointment.

"I can't be mad at you. We left you out of our sight, we let you run around on your own knowing that you'd find someway you'd get yourself into trouble. But you should've at least had the brains to turn away from a bad situation! What were all my lessons for Tourmaline?! So you could survive and you've nearly killed yourself by going against them!" He yelled.

Jet's frown turned a little more furious.

"Stop it." She said louder.

They continued to ignore her. Garnet hoisted Tourmaline up by the shoulders and put him on his feet.

"We are going home and we're going to have a long talk about your recklessness and rashness, maybe then you'll realize that your way isn't always the right-".

"Would you stop treating him like a child for one second!?" Jet yelled.

The group went silent as all eyes were focused on Jet.

"All of this talk. Boy this and kid that, knock it off! He may be younger than us but that doesn't make him a boy!" She started as she walked over to Tourmaline, then standing next to him and grabbing his hand, "You're acting like just putting a leash on him is an option but he doesn't operate like that! He has to act on his own and he himself knows sometimes it's not the best idea, but if he doesn't, he'll regret not trying. It's impulsive and reckless yes, but just pinning him down is just setting up a ticking time bomb! So get off of his back!".

The others stared at Jet with awestruck expressions. Each of them never heard her so angry before, so it was a shock, even to Tourmaline.

"Uh..thanks Jet, but why are you holding my hand?" Tourmaline asked.

Jet looked at Tourmaline's hand and then back to Tourmaline. She jerked her hand away and hugged herself.

"No reason." She uttered.

Garnet and Topaz calmed down and walked over to Tourmaline.

"Tourmaline...we're sorry for getting on your case. We're just worried that something will happen to you." Garnet admitted.

"We have a lot of power hitting us from all sides, and we can't afford to lose anymore friends." Topaz added, "You can act on your own just fine, but that doesn't mean you should.".

"He'll be fine, we just need to be with him instead of forcing our ideas onto him." Jet stated.

"Guys...thanks for understanding. But...I think I'm just going to stick to what Garnet's orders are from now on. I'll head back to my room when we get back." Tourmaline said solemnly.

Garnet stared at the tired boy with a questioning gaze.

"You and Obsidian nearly defeated her?" She asked.

"Yeah, if any of Fire Agate's attacks hit, she'd probably be dust by now." Tourmaline commented.

"Hmm...well we can't just leave that power on the sidelines, now can we?" She suggested smugly.

Tourmaline smiled back at her.

"Thanks. But we can never use her near home. Because...tantrums." Tourmaline joked.

Topaz chuckled, followed by the others. Obsidian got back to her feet and walked back to the warp pad.

"Let's go home." She declared.

/**/

Pyrite stood in front of Feldspar, cupping a small bit of Tourmaline's blood in her hand. Most of it was evaporated by Fire Agate's intense attacks, but luckily she still had a small bit of blood left. Feldspar led her to an empty pod. She tapped the panel at the base of said pod, and the top opened up.

"Pour it into the pod Pyrite." She instructed.

The giant gem did as she was instructed, and the green blood caused the grey liquid to turn slightly green. Feldspar tapped a few other buttons and a few corrupted gemstones fell into the pod. It began to glow and a new process was beginning. She turned back to her beaten and bruised daughter and pointed outwards.

"Go rest. You've had a rough day." She declared.

"Alright." Pyrite agreed.

The behemoth gem stepped out of the lab and went to her personal quarters. Feldspar looked back at the pod with curiosity and concern.

"_I need to work faster if the crystal gems are already outclassing Pyrite. The plan needs to be accelerated._" She thought.

/**/

The group warped back to the house. It was still empty, save Chrysoberyl in her original position. Tourmaline walked over to go back to his room. Obsidian brought Garnet over and whispered something in her ear. Garnet moved away from Obsidian and gave her a nod. She walked over to Tourmaline and grabbed him by the shoulder. The boy looked back at her with a deadpan stare.

"Something wrong Garnet?" He asked.

"I just have to ask you a thing or two." Garnet answered as she moved him away from the temple door.

Obsidian, Jet, Topaz and Sardonyx ran into the temple as Garnet brought the boy to the kitchen area.

"So...I was wondering, what should we do with Chrysoberyl? She hasn't done much of anything since we brought her here." Garnet asked.

"That's a good question. You think she's okay to go on missions?" Tourmaline brought up.

"It's a possibility.".

Tourmaline turned around and looked at Chrysoberyl.

"Hey Chrysoberyl! You want to go on a mission, smash up some homeworld gems and check out some temples or something?" He called out.

Chrysoberyl shifted from her blank stare and to Tourmaline.

"No." She said.

"Well, that's that then." He declared, "That all you wanted to talk about?".

"Yes, I'd say that's enough time for Obsidian to do what she wanted to do." Garnet stated.

"Wait what?" Tourmaline blurted out.

Tourmaline then ran from Garnet and went into the temple. Garnet looked back at Chrysoberyl and the titanic, golden gem stared back at her.

"Would you like to watch the crying breakfast friends?" She asked.

Garnet was silent for a second.

"Sure.".

/**/

Tourmaline ran through the corridors of the temple to see Obsidian, Sardonyx, Jet and Topaz breaking down the opening to his room. Obsidian and Sardonyx slammed their weapons into the ground, causing the opening to be sealed off by a rockslide. Tourmaline rushed over to the group with a panicked expression.

"What the hell are you guys doing!?" He asked.

"Sealing off that depressing place you call your room." Sardonyx declared.

Jet stepped from behind the two larger gems, revealing that she was holding Tourmaline's stuff.

"We're tired of you being in there." She said.

Tourmaline shook his head at the absurdity of the sentence.

"Okay, but now where am I going to stay!?" He asked, angry.

"Simple, with us." Topaz said.

Sardonyx picked Tourmaline up and placed him under her arm. The group walked downwards and eventually made it to their room. It was a large space divided into three sections. One section was earthy, with large rocks and crystals protruding from the ground, with a small platform in the center. The other had a pool of lava with a few sources of steamy hot water, glass statues decorated around it. The final section was a small area filled with various pieces of wood and flowers, and an opening above it, with a crystal window that brought in sunlight in from the surface. There was a wall of stone separating the last two walls from each other, lest an accident happened. And in the center, there was a pool of calm, still water, with various glowing crystals growing inside of it. Sardonyx let Tourmaline down and he looked at the massive room.

"Wow, you guys really did something with your space huh?" He commented.

"We could do anything with our rooms, so we tried to make our places a little like our old homes. Though Jet's space is a little special." Topaz joked.

"I just like nature okay?" Jet said.

Tourmaline stepped in and took a look around.

"It's pretty cool, but where's your space Topaz?".

"I share space with Sardonyx. I don't have much to do in terms of design, so I just made due with her wide open space." He answered.

"I can agree with that." Tourmaline said.

"So who you gonna bunk with?" Obsidian asked.

Tourmaline scratched his chin as he looked at the spaces once more.

"Hmm, I think I'll go with Jet's. It looks very nice." He declared.

Jet felt a tingle going up her spine.

"Oh! Uh...cool!" She said.

Tourmaline walked over to her space and sat on a log. Jet walked over to him and placed his belongings next to a flower bed. The others walked over to the pair and smiled at the boy.

"You're not going to be alone. We won't allow it. Okay?" Obsidian promised.

Tourmaline nodded.

"Okay." He agreed.


	32. Chapter 32: New Relationships

Chapter 32: New Relationships

Things were quiet in the inner sanctum of the temple. Tourmaline was resting in Jet's garden with the aforementioned gem and Tanza. Sardonyx and Topaz were training in her space while Obsidian was forming new glass figures. Topaz leaped onto Sardonyx, but the burly gem blocked with her club, then shoving the smaller gem off of her with the brunt end of her massive weapon. Topaz flew back through the air, performing a backflip to regain his composure, and landed on a branch right behind Tourmaline and the two girls. He stared down at the lazy group as Tourmaline flipped his head back to gaze up at his friend.

"How's the training buddy?" He asked in a modest tone.

"Fine. She actually gives a chance to do a thing or two instead of getting steamrolled." Topaz joked.

Tourmaline laughed.

"Well keep up the good work and we might be able to have some decent matches again." Tourmaline said confidently.

Topaz shot a couple glances towards Tanza and Jet.

"And how about you two. Have you been training?" He asked.

Jet shrugged while Tanza nodded.

"I don't really have to train like you guys. The acid does all of the work and I'm pretty used to dodging attacks and finding openings. I just have to be focused." Jet explained.

"And I've been sparring with Garnet. She's been beating me into shape." Tanza added.

"Alright, fair enough for you. But Jet, you should really get some extra practice in." Topaz suggested.

Topaz looked over to see Sardonyx waving him over.

"Come on buddy! You callin it quits or what!?" She called out.

Topaz sighed and leaped off the branch, landing a couple feet in front of the three gems and dashing towards Sardonyx. The two continued their match as Tourmaline got up to his feet. He stretched his arms and back as the two girls got up as well.

"Where you goin?" Tanza asked.

"Gonna check in on the others. Think I've lazed about long enough." He stated, "You guys gonna come along?".

Tanza walked next to Tourmaline and crouched down to his level.

"Nah, I'm going to go check in on Taz and Steven. I promised I'd take her out and Steven just has to tag along." She said, then kissing him on the cheek, "I'll catch you around lover.".

Tanza walked out of the chamber and Tourmaline turned over to Jet.

"Oh! I'm uh...gonna do a thing or two with Obsidian." She said.

Tourmaline shrugged as he walked out the chamber.

"Okay then, later." He said as he waved goodbye without looking back.

Jet heaved a sigh and then leaped up next to Obsidian. She was busy crafting, so Jet took a seat next to the large black and red gem and gazed on as she continued to work.

Tourmaline hummed a happy tune as he walked through the temple corridors without a care in the world. He had been pretty on edge for the past few days, so it felt nice to relax and feel natural again. Suddenly, he heard a crunching noise nearby. He tensed up and looked towards the area where the sound came from, Amethyst's room. He dashed over to her space as quickly as he could to see Black Pearl skittering across her trash as Amethyst whipped and threw things at her. The spider gem countered by swatting away the random bits of trash and using her webbing to clash with the small purple gem's whip strikes.

"Will you knock it off!?" Black Pearl shouted.

"Nuh uh! You crossed the line you impaling jerkface! Time for well deserved and delayed pay back!" She shouted.

Tourmaline quickly dashed into the room, knocking down structures of trash and stomping over old forgotten knick knacks. The two ladies turned to see the gem charging into the room, but Amethyst had a bit more of a panicked look as opposed to surprise as the speeding gem was heading right in her direction. Tourmaline leaped over to Amethyst and scooped up the feisty gem in his arms, squeezing her tightly as she tried to wriggle her way out of his grip. Black Pearl let her limbs fade back into her catsuit as she glared at the two gem's struggle. Tourmaline walked over to the dark gem with Amethyst scowling at her.

"I have had it with that little monster!" Black Pearl shouted.

"And I have had it with that big gross bug! I could manage with her living in a very small corner of my room but eating my secret stash of donuts was the last straw!" Amethyst yelled back.

"Oh don't say they were secret! You just left them lying out in the open, like everything else in your trash heap of a room!".

"It's called hiding something in plain sight you moron!".

"I've heard enough!" Tourmaline shouted.

Black Pearl pointed at Amethyst.

"And I've had enough of her! Everyone else is fine with me being here but her!" The dark gem pointed out.

"That is true!" Amethyst stated.

"She's a disrespectful, aggressive, vulgar brat who has no sense of empathy or forgiveness!".

"That is also true!".

Tourmaline threw Amethyst on the ground next to Black Pearl, causing the small gem to land on her butt and let out an ouch. Before Black Pearl could respond, Tourmaline swept her off her feet and she landed on her rear end as well.

"Why's she get the dainty leg sweep and you throw me flat on my butt?" Amethyst whined.

"Because her gem is right near her butt and yours isn't, now be quiet! Both of you!" He demanded.

Both ladies glared at him as he paced back and forth, thinking about what to say.

"Alright, I know the two of you had a very bad first impression, I get that. But you have to move past it because you guys could have a pretty nice relationship. You're some of the few people in this house that actually eat things and sleep, you got two common factors already! But Amethyst, you're being a brat about this." Tourmaline explained.

Black Pearl grinned smugly as Amethyst pouted and crossed her arms. Then Tourmaline pointed at Black Pearl, which got a bit of a surprise out of her.

"And you barely socializing with any of us isn't making this any easier on you Black Pearl. None of us are gonna stand up for you if you barely talk to us!" He explained.

Black Pearl frowned.

"That's hardly fair! So what if I don't talk that much, it doesn't mean I don't want to have friends, it's just that I'm having a hard time adjusting to this situation considering my entire life has been flipped upside down and I'm used to dealing with scum instead of decent people. So forgive me if I'm a little hesitant to get involved with any of you considering I was practically kidnapped to be here." Black Pearl explained.

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"For what reason I'll never know." She whispered.

Tourmaline sat down in front of the two of them.

"Okay, I get that, but that shouldn't mean you should shut yourself in and just ignore us. You like Jet right?" He asked.

"She's...nice." She stated.

"And Topaz?".

"He's a pompous, egotistical jerk...but he has some somewhat noble ideals.".

"Great. The others are also really good once you get to know them. We just have to deal with breaking down the wall between you and them." He declared as he looked over the purple gem, "Amethyst.".

Amethyst scowled and got up to her feet.

"Oh give me a break! It's not like I'm saying nasty things to the others to make them hate her!" She yelled as she pointed towards Black Pearl, "And I have a pretty good reason to dislike her when she stabbed me eight times and then broke my neck!".

Tourmaline grabbed Amethyst by the shoulders and picked her up as he stood up.

"I understand that. You had a really bad first impression, but so have I with my friends, and now we're a big happy family." Tourmaline said.

Amethsyt's angry scowl turned into a moody gaze.

"How many tried to kill you?" She asked.

"All of them." Tourmaline said bluntly.

Amethyst and Black Pearl stared in shock at his blunt honesty.

"I...really?" The purple gem blurted out.

"Yep, and I found it in me to forgive them and welcome them into my life. So how about you try to do the same?" He asked.

Amethyst pouted, looked at Black Pearl, and then back to Tourmaline.

"I only promise not to attack her or say nasty things." Amethyst begrudgingly said.

Tourmaline frowned. He then put Amethyst under his right arm.

"Not good enough." He said, then picking Bp up and placing her under his left arm.

"Hey!" The dark gem objected.

Tourmaline started walking out of Amethyst's room.

"You two are coming with me and we're gonna have a nice, bonding day together." Tourmaline declared.

"This is not cool man!" Amethyst stated.

"It will be cool just keep a positive attitude." He assured her.

Black Pearl heaved a sigh as she just went limp as he carried her away. She didn't bother objecting to his decision. Not like he was gonna listen anyway.

/**/

In Steven's home, Garnet, Dravite and Elbaite were talking near the kitchen counter, while Steven and Taz played with his game station while Rubellite and Pegmatite watched.

"So what should our next move be?" Garnet asked.

"To be honest, we should act carefully. Going after Feldspar now might be a bad idea. Sure we proved we have the power to knock Pyrite out, but that only means that Feldspar is going to be extremely cautious." Dravite explained.

"If we track her movements and stop whatever she's doing, she'll be worn down and that's when we go in for the kill." Elbaite finished.

Garnet nodded in agreement, and then Tanza entered the living space through the temple door. Taz peeked over from Steven's space and then beamed as she saw her best friend coming towards her. She rushed down the stairs with Steven following behind her and she then leaped into Tanza's welcoming arms. Steven settled for a leg, as Tanza's arms were occupied and he didn't want to get in between them. After the quick hug, the small yellow gem looked her friend in the eyes.

"We gonna go out now?" She asked.

Tanza smiled.

"Yes." Tanza answered, then turning to Steven, "You ready to go the boardwalk?".

Steven nodded eagerly, and the trio was walking out the door, with Topaz still in Tanza's arm. Garnet looked over at Steven and the others, then extending her hand outwards.

"Hold it!" She called out.

The three of them stopped and looked back at the tall fusion.

"You remember the guidelines for Steven?" She asked.

"Yes I do." Tanza stated, "You have nothing to worry about.".

Garnet relaxed her stance and looked towards Steven, flashing him a smile.

"Alright, just checking. Go and have fun Steven!" She said warmly.

Steven waved her goodbye as he walked out of the door.

"Will do!" He promised.

With that, Garnet looked back to the pair of gems.

"Alright, so what now?" Elbaite asked.

Garnet walked over to the warp pad, motioning Elbaite and Dravite to follow her.

"I say we scope out the planet for any abnormalities. Even the smallest clue would be helpful for knowing where Feldspar's base is." Garnet declared.

The two gems followed her.

"And what about the rest of our crew?" Dravite asked.

"They can come along if they want." Garnet allowed.

Rubellite leaned down and looked over at the trio of gems.

"We heard every word. Not interested." Rubellite said.

"Seriously? You're passing out on a chance to check out the entire world?" Elbaite replied as she raised her eyebrow.

"We haven't even explored the small patch of Earth we landed on." She shot back.

Pegmatite let out a small growl, most likely agreeing with what her friend said. Elbaite turned around and shrugged.

"Your loss.".

The three gems got on the pad and warped away. Pegmatite stared at the pause screen of Steven's game while Rubellite rolled on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She leaned up to open her mouth but then the door to the temple opened again. The two turned towards the door to see Tourmaline carrying Black Pearl and Amethyst under her arms.

"I wanna go to the Big Donut." Amethyst demanded.

"Fine." Tourmaline relented.

Rubellite rolled off the edge of the floor and landed on the couch.

"Where ya going Tourmaline?" She asked.

"I'm taking these two out because they need to learn how to get along." Tourmaline said.

Black Pearl rolled her eyes.

"I am perfectly fine. She needs to learn how to be respectful." Black Pearl said snarkily.

Tourmaline flexed his arms and squeezed Black Pearl, resulting in her letting out a small squeak.

"Don't incite anything." Tourmaline ordered.

Rubellite got up from the couch and walked over to the young gem.

"Mind if we tag along? We're bored and want to get out of this place." She asked.

Tourmaline nodded.

"I could use a hand with damage control anyway." He laughed.

"Oh please like she could handle me. You barely are and she's so ti-" Amethyst started.

Pegmatite carefully got down from Steven's room and looked down at the gems. She let out a small rumbling noise as she presumably looked down at Amethyst.

"She can." Rubellite boasted.

The mighty grey gem cracked her knuckles and looked down upon Tourmaline and the two short gems in his clutches. The two ladies felt a chill run up their spines.

/**/

Steven and Taz ran along the beach as Tanza skated alongside the two children. The group raced past the Big Donut, but Steven ran in reverse to look back to see something familiar in the shop. He squinted his eyes to make out the shape of a familiar golden gem. For some odd reason, Chrysoberyl was in the donut shop. Steven rushed in with the two girls following. He rushed inside to see Lars's annoyed expression as she stared up at the giant gem.

"And this one?" Chrysoberyl asked as she pointed at a spotted donut.

"Blueberry." Lars said in a bored tone.

"And this thing?" She continued.

"That's an apple fritter.".

"And this?".

"Can't you read the labels!?" Lars shouted.

"I am not familiar with your human scriptures." The tall robotic gem stated.

Steven jogged up to Chrysoberyl's side.

"Chrysoberyl? What're you doing here?" The young boy asked as he pointed at her.

The giant gem looked down at the boy.

"I am merely getting acquainted with Rose Quartz's surroundings. I shall learn every minute detail about her in the hopes of completing my mission." She declared.

Steven got a little uncomfortable, but he laughed it off, albeit nervously.

"Hahaha, don't worry about this place. I don't think my mom was into food." Steven stated, "But if you want to check out the city, how about you come with me, Tanza and Taz?".

Chrysoberyl turned around and looked at the trio and grinned a little.

"Very well, I shall accompany you on a surveillance trip." She declared.

Steven turned around and led the other gems out of the shop, with Lars heaving a sigh of relief as he slumped back in his seat.

"Finally! Nap time." He said to himself as he started to rest.

Sadie walked in from the back of the store and placed a box in front of Lars.

"Your turn to stock." She said.

The teenage boy groaned as he got up from his seat and picked up the box. He walked over to the half empty shelf for chips, when suddenly Tourmaline and his posse walked in. Amethyst and Black Pearl were now walking, with Rubellite and Pegmatite following behind them. Pegmatite shapeshifted to become smaller to enter the door, and then shapeshifted back to her normal height. Tourmaline peeped over his shoulder and shot a backwards glance at Amethyst.

"You sure Steven's gonna be alright with Chrysoberyl right next to him?" He asked.

"Eh, Steven 'll be fine. The big shiny gal don't know a thing about him so it's all chill. Besides he's got yo girl watchin over em." Amethyst said.

Tourmaline shrugged and continued walking over to the counter. Lars just stared up in awe and slight terror as Pegmatite lumbered in. Sadie was oblivious as she was checking if the stock behind the counter was okay.

"Hi welcome to the Big Donut! How can I help yOOOUUU!?" Saide said as she turned around and saw the motley crew.

Tourmaline raised his hand up and smiled.

"Hi there." He greeted.

"What up Say-Dee!" Amethyst bellowed.

The young blond girl shook her head and brought herself back to reality. Strange, strange reality.

"Oh! Uh, hi Amethyst. Guess you and Steven got a lot of new friends huh?" Sadie stumbled bashfully.

"Yeah, I got three friends right here! And ironically the one that's not my friend is standing right next to me." Amethyst joked.

Tourmaline turned around glared at the small purple gem.

"Hey! Nothing like that." Tourmaline started.

Amethyst was silent.

"None of that." He continued, "Shame on you.".

Rubellite stepped forward and looked at the glass casing.

"Ooo earth has such odd and delectable treats! I don't know what I want my first to be. How about you Pegmatite?" She asked.

Pegmatite was looking in the frozen goods section, looking straight down at the shelf where popsicles were.

"Amethyst, help Pegmatite with her treat. Black Pearl, you choose what you want." Tourmaline ordered.

"Sure." Black Pearl said.

Amethyst glared up at Tourmaline, she opened her mouth to protest, but then stopped when she came to a realization.

"You're doing this because I'm being a jerk to Black Pearl." Amethyst concluded.

Tourmaline nodded, "That and I know you'll be satisfied with any flavor of donut.".

"How do ya know me so well?" She asked.

"Your behind Garnet for my favorite of your trio." Tourmaline admitted.

Amethyst grinned and did a fist pump.

"Yes! Better than Pearl! Alright I'ma go help our big buddy." Amethyst declared as she walked over towards the big grey gem.

Tourmaline turned to the counter and looked at Sadie.

"Everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, Amethyst's just being a butt about our new friend Black Pearl." Tourmaline explained.

"Oh. Why's that?".

"Complicated. Well it's straight forward but you wouldn't believe me if I told you.".

Sadie shrugged her shoulders.

"Alright then. So just a couple for all of you?" She asked.

"Better go with a box." Tourmaline declared.

"Okay, anything else?".

"Large soft drink for me. And-"

Several popsicles plopped down on the counter. Tourmaline looked up to see Pegmatite looming over him. Amethyst stood next to Tourmaline and pointed at the pile.

"She liked how those looked." She stated.

Tourmaline looked back at Sadie.

"And these.".

"Okay then. Your total is twenty-one, seventeen." She said as she typed the order into the cash register.

Tourmaline shrugged as he pulled out his wallet, handing her a couple twenties.

"Keep the change." He said.

"Thanks, I'll just talk to those two about what they want." Sadie said as she walked over to the display case. Tourmaline picked up the popsicles and handed them to Pegmatite.

"Go find us all a table." He said to Amethyst, then looking up at the grey gem, "You're fine with sitting on the floor? These chairs aren't exactly sturdy.".

She let out a soft moo as she turned away from Tourmaline. Amethyst the giant to a table near the window. She sat down at the end and looked out at the sea. Tourmaline filled his cup with fruit punch and Rubellite walked over to the table with Black Pearl and a box of donuts. Black Pearl sat in front of Amethyst and Rubellite next to Pegmatite, who was struggling with a wrapper. Tourmaline sat down next to Rubellite and started sipping on his drink. The gems looked at the boy and he looked back.

"Okay...so Amethyst. Let's talk about our feelings now." Tourmaline said, "Tell Black Pearl how you really feel about her.".

"Can't I eat first?" Amethyst begged.

"No.".

Amethyst groaned in annoyance, throwing her head back before looking back at Black Pearl.

"Fine. You're...a super quiet person who refuses to let me get any information from you...so I'm just going off of that one time you stabbed me and forced me back into my gem." Amethyst admitted.

Black Pearl stared at Amethyst, taking in her info.

"Okay, now Black Pearl, your turn." Tourmaline said.

"Alright. You're a very rude and immature person, only because you're holding that one instance against me when we both know it doesn't amount to much." Black Pearl said.

Rubellite smirked.

"How sweet." She said sarcastically.

"No this is good. It's all out in the open and there's no need for malicious confrontation. Amethyst, just let it go." He suggested.

Amethyst shrugged.

"Fine. This anger act is getting really old. But I'm still gonna be rude and immature. That's just how it is." Amethyst declared.

"Great!" Tourmaline declared as he started drinking again.

There was a silence, outside of Pegmatite still trying to open up her popsicle. Black Pearl leaned over and looked at Tourmaline.

"Uhhh, aren't you going to give me some advice?" She asked.

Tourmaline looked over to her.

"Nah. The two of you are fine now. You're not at each other's throats and that's what matters. If you want to be friends, good and I highly recommend it. Now that the past is the past, we can be happy in the present." He stated.

Black Pearl tilted her head.

"This mean we can eat now?" Amethyst asked.

"Sure, just help Pegmatite with her popsicle first." He requested.

Amethyst grabbed the packaged treat from the grey gem and tore it open, revealing a pink square bar of frozen sweetness on a stick. She handed it back to her giant buddy and then immediately went for the box of donuts. Lars walked over to the counter and picked up the remaining popsicles and put them in a portable cooler. Rubellite looked at the young, blushing man with curious eyes.

"Just uh...didn't want your friends treats to melt." He said modestly.

"Aww, how sweet of you!" She said warmly.

Lars rubbed the back of his head and went back to his work. Pegmatite held the slightly melting treat in front of her face. Tourmaline looked over to the giant and smiled.

"You're supposed to lick it. It's something to savor a sweet flavor Pegmatite." He told her, "Guess you didn't think about that since you don't have a-".

A straight line formed a bit below the center of Pegmatite's face. There wasn't even any light signifying shapshifting, it was like someone just drew a line on her face. And then a long, thick, greyish black tongue slipped out of the black line. The monstrous thing was as wide as her head and was half the length. It licked the popsicle slowly, tasting the treat and letting out small sounds of satisfaction with each stroke of her tongue. Amethyst, Black Pearl and Tourmaline stared at her with confusion, and felt slightly disturbed.

"I...I don't even know what to say." Tourmaline said.

"Yeah, she usually doesn't use her mouth." Rubellite mentioned.

"Why's that?" Black Pearl asked.

The pink gem looked over to the black gem and smiled.

"She doesn't wanna use it." She said cheerfully.

/**/

Steven and his friends observed the civilians at the boardwalk. He had a big grin on his face as he sat with the others on a bench near the side of the boardwalk, while Taz tossed some popcorn to the seagulls. Chrysoberyl stood next to the bench with a small smile on her face as she watched kids and adults alike play. Tanza leaned over to Steven.

"Would you like to go on a ride or something along those lines?" She asked.

Steven shook his head.

"Nah, I'm a little nervous to get on a ride. Especially since...the teacups incident." He shuddered.

Taz threw some more kernels and giggled as the birds swarmed near her. She looked over to the sea and saw something move under the waves. She nudged Tanza and the purple gem turned over to see the thing rushing towards the beach. She summoned her skates and got up from the bench.

"Stay here." She ordered.

Tanza leaped off the boardwalk and landed on the sandy beach. From the sea, a giant turtle like being with an elongated beak and long blade like flippers jumped from the sea. Tanza skated over to the creature and leaped into the air. The beast looked over at the gem and leaned over to block the potential attack with her shell. Tanza did a divekick, but the creature's hard shell repelled the attack. She gazed at the beast as it positioned itself to face her. Before she could attack again, the creature used its giant flippers to leap towards Tanza. She jumped out of the way of the crude attack, but the great beast was sliding towards the boardwalk's support beams. Taz panicked as she tried to focus on stopping the giant beast with her telekinesis, but she was having difficulties. Steven looked at Taz and then at Chrysoberyl. He didn't know what would happen if he used his shield, but he couldn't risk the boardwalk getting destroyed and people getting hurt. She jumped over the rail and summoned a large shield. The turtle bonked it's head as it slid into the giant pink shield as Steven looked up at the great beast. He shrunk his shield to fit on his arm, and stared the great beast down. Tanza skated behind the dazed beast in an attempt to catch it off guard.

"_That's right just stay right there, don't do anythi-_" She thought, before it was cut off by something that turned her blood cold.

Chrysoberyl leaped up from the boardwalk, causing the wooden planks to break and splinter with the force of the jump, and went straight back down onto the turtle's back. The shell shattered and the monster poofed away. Steven felt a sense of dread creep in as the golden golem stared down at him with glowing lime eyes.

"Rose Quartz's power detected. From you." She said in a robotic tone.

Tanza continued skating towards Chrysoberyl. She wouldn't let Steven get hurt. She slid over to kick the giant gem in the back, and the blow struck the mighty gem in the center of her lower spine, but the thunderous blow had no apparent effect. Tanza stared at Chrysoberyl's hulking frame for a second before she extended her arm out forward, and then brought her elbow right into Tanza's chest, creating a loud cracking noise as she flew backwards.

"No interference." She said passively.

"Tanza!" Taz shouted.

As Tanza bounded and rolled across the sand, Chrysoberyl picked up Steven by his shield, hoisting the small boy upwards. The sea's breeze made his shirt flutter, showing his pink gemstone. Chrysoberyl's eyes glowed bright as she examined Steven.

"Analyzing.".

Tanza finally stopped herself, and looked up to see Tourmaline, Amethyst, Rubellite, Black Pearl and Pegmatite. Tourmaline crouched down and helped his girlfriend up.

"What happened?!" He asked.

Tanza coughed a little.

"It's...it's Chrysoberyl. The jig is up, she knows that Steven is Rose." She explained.

As soon as she got to her feet, Tourmaline let go of Tanza and summoned his grieves. Rubellite stood next to Tanza to help keep her up while Amethyst and Black Pearl rushed after Tourmaline, with Pegmatite slowly running after them. Black Pearl extended her legs and started spinning some threads while Amethyst summoned her whip.

"You think we can take her?" Black Pearl asked.

Amethyst smirked.

"Yeah, Tourmaline's no Garnet, but he's still super tough." She complimented as Tourmaline finally approached Chrysoberyl, who diverted her attention from Steven at the new threat, "After all, he whooped Pyrite and put her in the gro-".

Before Tourmaline could kick the great gem, Chrysoberyl beat out his offense with an unexpected punch to the stomach. The imprint of her fist nearly tearing the boy apart caused both Amethyst and Black Pearl to stop dead in their tracks, their jaws agape from the display of raw power. Chrysoberyl removed her fist from his stomach and then quickly delivered a right hook, sending him flying into a car window across the street.

"...Ooooooooh Noooooo…" Amethyst whimpered, and then shook her head, "Okay we just gotta hold her down so Tourmaline can attack again. Come on!".

Chrysoberyl turned her attention back to the terrified Steven, observing his shield and gem.

"Weapon and gem match Rose's one-hundred percent. But your composition doesn't match hers at all." She stated.

Steven took in a deep breath and looked the enemy in the eyes.

"That's because-".

Amethyst's whip wrapped around her beefy arm holding Steven while Black Pearl grabbed the other arm. Both gems pulled back on the great arms, causing them to go backwards.

"Yeah that's it! Pull harder!" Amethyst ordered.

"Trying!" Black Pearl responded.

Tourmaline got out of the car window and rushed back at Chrysoberyl. The irritated golem looked over to see the boy rushing back at him, and then whipped her free arm around, flinging Black Pearl right into him. The two gems went rolling across the street, and then she turned her attention to Amethyst.

"Eep." The small purple gem uttered.

Chrysoberyl yanked Amethyst towards her, and the longhaired gem skidded across the sand. The golden gem raised her foot upwards, but Amethyst quickly rolled into a ball, speeding into her other leg, but the blow only resulted in Amethyst hurting her head.

"Gah! What are you made of, diamonds!?" She shouted.

"Affirmative, and other dense and durable substances." Chrysoberyl answered.

The great gem stomped the ground, creating a force strong enough to knock Amethyst away from her. Chrysoberyl looked back at Steven with an angered expression.

"Now. Why are you like this Quartz? This defies all logic!" She said, raising her tone.

"I'm not my mom!" Steven blurted out.

Chrysoberyl raised an eyebrow.

"Mom? What is-".

She felt someone grab her shoulder. She looked over said shoulder and then was greeted by a giant grey fist to her face. Chrysoberyl stumbled backwards, dropping Steven. She glared at Pegmatite, who was flexing her arms and bellowing as a sign of challenging her opponent. Tourmaline and Black Pearl stared at the display in amazement.

"What strength!" Tourmaline commented.

The two gems walked over to each other, but Steven got between them.

"Wait! There's no need to fight!" He said.

Pegmatite growled a little as he looked down at the small boy, but she relented, and Chrysoberyl looked back down at the boy with a curious gaze. Steven turned over to Chrysoberyl and took a deep breath.

"Okay...Chrysoberyl, the truth is that I'm sort of my mom, Rose. My mom decided that she wanted to have a baby with my dad, and she gave up her physical form to create me. So I inherited her gem and powers from her, but I'm not her. I'm me!" Steven explained.

Chrysoberyl stared intensely at the boy, which was putting all the gems on edge. Tanza and Rubellite finally made it over to the scene, but they both decided not to act yet, just to see where this would go. Finally, Chrysoberyl responded.

"I am...confused…" She said, averting her gaze, "Why would she do this? This doesn't match up with my data on her.".

Steven scratched his head.

"I can't say I can help you there, but all I can guess is that people change with time, and my mom was no exception. But I'm me and she's gone now." Steven said.

"Mmn." She hummed.

Chrysoberyl stood up straight, and started walking away from the group.

"Where are you going!?" Amethyst called out.

"To the home. Rose Quartz has been eliminated for quite some time now, I realize now that I have no purpose." Chrysoberyl stated.

There was a bit of an awkward silence, but Steven ran after the giant gem. The others followed behind him. Steven got to the side of the great gem, and looked up at her.

"Don't say that about yourself! You are your own person! You can do anything you want and you shouldn't let this get you down!" Steven exclaimed.

"I wish that were true, but alas it was not. I was created, trained, and taught that this was my only purpose, and I can only live with this." Chrysoberyl argued.

"Well...you can change can't you?" Steven suggested.

Chrysoberyl stopped walking and looked down at the small boy.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well...every gem here has some sort of purpose they were born with, but they changed out of that and got better! I mean, you like cartoons don't you? And I don't think that was in your...lessons." Steven suggested.

"They were not." Chrysoberyl said.

"See!" He said with a jump, "You're already finding new things to do! You can change and make a new purpose!".

Chalcedony was quiet for a second, but then smiled.

"I suppose you are correct." She said.

Steven smiled and the two continued walking back home. With the other gems staring in awe.

"Wait...is that it!? Aren't you going to fight or do something else? Cause...I don't know we were expecting something bigger!" Tourmaline argued.

Chrysoberyl looked over her shoulder.

"And I was expecting the supposed second in command gem to be stronger." She shot back.

Tourmaline's jaw hung open as the impact of her statement hit him harder than one-hundred of her punches. Amethyst and Black Pearl let out a small, sarcastic groan of pain out for Tourmaline.

"That's rough buddy." Amethyst commented.

"You're fine the way you are Tourmaline. We weren't expecting that either." Black Pearl assured him.

Tourmaline fell flat on his butt and looked down at the ground.

"Just leave me alone. I need to...think about things." He requested.

Amethyst and Black Pearl shrugged and walked off. Tanza and Taz looked at their moping friend, but decided not to disturb him. Rubellite and Pegmatite were the last to stay with him.

"Oof, wonder who taught her to burn like that. Oh well, let's leave him be Pegmatite." Rubellite said.

Pegmatite didn't budge as she stared down at the moping gem. She looked over to Rubellite and let out a small mooing noise.

"I...you want to be alone with him? Okay. You know your way back if he doesn't budge right?" The pink gem asked.

The giant nodded.

"Okay good. I'll...see you back home.".

Rubellite ran off and Pegmatite walked over to Tourmaline, and sat down next to him.

"Go away Pegmatite. I want to be alone." He said coldly.

She extended her hand out and rubbed his back, letting out a small hum. Tourmaline gave in and decided to talk.

"Ugh...guess you want me to talk about this." He said, looking over to her.

She nodded.

"It's just that...my last few fights haven't gone so well. First was with Pyrite, getting completely merked, then her again with an admittedly decent fight, but I was still mostly losing, and now getting knocked silly by Chrysoberyl. I just...feel weak and don't feel like my training is getting me anywhere." Tourmaline explained.

Pegmatite looked down at him for a little and then huffed a bit. The line from before formed on her face as she looked at Tourmaline's face.

"Hrm...Train..I can. Strong...I am." She bellowed.

Tourmaline stumbled over and looked at Pegmatite with a jolted expression.

"You...you can talk!?" He said, exasperated.

She nodded.

"But...why make all the noises and stuff? Why even get rid of that line thing!?" Tourmaline asked.

"Talk...when I want. Rubellite understands...so that's all I need." She explained.

"Uhh...okay then. But you seriously can train me? I mean I'm pretty sure we could just bring you over to Pyrite and you could just smash her.".

"No. I'm strong...but slow. Very slow." She stated, "You...however...very fast...make explosions...very versatile. Just need more power.".

Tourmaline shook his head.

"I...wow. And you've done this before?" Tourmaline asked.

"Jade...got strong cause...I helped." She admitted.

Tourmaline rose to his feet.

"You trained my dad!?" He exclaimed.

She nodded.

"When can we start?" He asked.

Pegmatite rose to her feet.

"Now." She said.

"Wait what?".

"Take fist!" She bellowed as she swung her fist down.

Tourmaline panicked and tried to stop the mighty blow, but the force of the attack sent him into the ground. He stayed there, half buried and looking up at the mighty gem.

"Maybe we could start with some weights or something before this?" He requested.

The line on her mouth went away and she hummed as she grabbed his head.

"Back to grumbles." Tourmaline said passive aggressively.


	33. Chapter 33: Phase 2

Chapter 33: Phase 2

Tourmaline was thrown to the ground with massive force. He felt his neck and spine crack back into place as he got back to his feet, his regeneration healing some bloody bruises and broken bones. He glared back to Pegmatite, and the giant gem was rolling her arm around in a circle to loosen it up. Rubellite was looking at the two of them, sipping on a strawberry drink while the two gems trained. They have been at it in the floating arena for two hours. Rubellite finished her drink and threw it off of the island.

"That was fifty-three times. Think you're done getting knocked around by her?" She teased.

"No. I gotta get used to taking hard hits. I got a pretty good defensive skill but I've only been going off of that for the longest time. I got to toughen up a bit more. Now…" He said positioning himself, using his grieve's blades to anchor himself into the ground, "...Pegmatite. I want you to hit me. As hard as you can.".

Pegmatite nodded in agreement and ran over to the young gem. She reeled her fist back and let her it fly at Tourmaline's stomach. It slammed into his gut and Tourmaline grit his teeth in pain, being sent back at an insane rate. Tile and rock was torn to shreds by his grieve's blades. His back slammed into a wall, the resulting impact causing it to crack. Tourmaline's body was shaking, as a large imprint was left in his stomach. He could feel an insane amount of pain, but he did not go down. Pegmatite and Rubellite walked over to the shaking gem, but he refused to go down.

"Finally...got it." He uttered.

Pegmatite scratched his head with one finger, letting out a small coo of approval, then picking him up with her other hand.

"She says that you did well and we've done enough for today." Rubellite translated.

"Good to know. I feel like I've been making some progress here." He declared.

"I'd say so too. I'm sure the others are pretty proud of ya." The pink gem said.

"Heh heh, yeah.".

With that, the trio walked back to the warp pad to go back home. With a flash of light, they were back home, with all the gems in the living room.

"Finally, you three are here." Garnet stated.

"Something going down?" Tourmaline asked.

"Yes. We think Feldspar is finally making a move." Pearl stated, "Considering what firepower she may or may not have, I say we move in with everything we got. We'll finish her quickly and end this madness.".

Topaz nodded.

"With the training we've done, I doubt she'll have a chance." He said confidently.

"Are you forgetting Pyrite?" Tanza asked.

"Are you forgetting that Tourmaline and Obsidian could just fuse and crush her and whatever thing that happens to come by?" He retorted.

Obsidian rubbed her arm.

"Well, yeah, but you guys shouldn't be around for that. Fire Agate probably would be pretty dangerous to be around." She stated.

"So when are we going out?" Steven asked.

"Now." Garnet stated.

"Alright then." Tourmaline said.

"Let's do this!" Amethyst bellowed.

"Uh...I think I'll just...stay here." Talc said.

Everyone looked at the timid white gem.

"Let's face it, if I came with you I'd just get in the way. So do what you gotta do." Talc admitted.

Elbaite and Dravite looked at each other and then back to Talc.

"If you say so Talc." Elbaite said.

"I'm sure this is for the best." He said.

"Okay, let's go." Garnet ordered.

With that, the gems went to the warp pad in groups, with Talc going to the couch to sit down. He looked on as each batch of gems was beamed to their target destination. The last batch had Elbaite, Dravite, Taz and Steven. The group waved him goodbye, and the white gem laid flat on his back.

"_Time to feel useless once more….fun times._" He thought.

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. He got up from his relaxed state, and answered the door. Jenny, Buck and Sour Cream were standing outside.

"Uh, hi." Talc greeted.

"You one of the guys who came in that giant space ship?" Buck asked.

"Yeah, just hitching a ride." Talc said modestly.

"You here to do bad stuff?" Sour Cream asked.

"No." The white gem answered.

Jenny shoved the two boys aside.

"Okay is Tourmaline or Steven here?" She asked.

"They just went out to destroy a mad gem that's bent on galaxy wide domination." He answered.

There was an awkward silence amongst the group for a few seconds.

"So they're busy?" Buck asked.

"Yeah but I'll let them know you stopped by." Talc offered.

"Cool, thanks." Buck said.

Talc stepped outside.

"What did you want from them anyway?".

"Just wanted to hang out." Jenny answered.

"Don't mean to be pushy, but can I come? I got nothing to do here and I'd like to see some sights." Talc requested.

The cool kids looked at each other and then back to Talc.

"You friends with Tourmaline?" Jenny asked.

"I'd say so." He answered.

The cool kid's looked at each other again and then back to Talc.

"Okay." Buck said.

/**/

Steven and Taz stared up at a bright and orange sky. For some reason or another, the gems had tracked Feldspar's movements down to a remote jungle, one where an old gem ship was located. The group was mildly spread out, as to see where or if there were any signs of Feldspar's forces. Garnet and Tourmaline rendezvoused at the point where Steven and Taz were.

"Find anything yet?" He asked.

"Nothing really. The only place left is the abandoned ship, but I'd rather not go in there. Last time me and my crew went in there we were ambushed. I'd rather not have all of us get trapped in there." Garnet explained.

Tourmaline heaved an irritated sigh.

"Think this hunch was a flop?" He asked.

"It's starting to seem like it." Garnet admitted.

"Well one more quick combover can't hurt. Who knows? Maybe the others found something." He suggested.

"Let's hope." She stated, then looking over to Steven, "Steven! Come on!".

Steven ran over to Garnet and Taz ran over to Tourmaline. The two children went with their respective guardians and went off into the jungle.

Deeper in said jungle, Obsidian was knocking down trees and other bits of foliage that obscured her vision. Pearl leaped onto Obsidian's broad shoulders to gain a better look around. Lapis fluttered down from an opening in the canopy next to the large black gem and looked up to her.

"Still can't see that well with all these trees in the way. And There isn't that much water nearby to be that useful in a fight." She stated, "Really wish that the gems could've landed near a river or something.".

"Don't worry about it, we got plenty of firepower as it is." Pearl assured her.

"If anything a quick fusion will solve any problem we might have." Obsidian stated.

Farther away, Topaz was analyzing the plants and ground to see any signs of a particular disturbance or trail while Black Pearl looked around in the trees while Amethyst just followed Topaz around.

"Shouldn't you have found her by now? Isn't that like, your specialty or somethin?" Amethyst asked.

"Yeah, when I have something to go off of, it's a little harder when I have a cold trail." He stated.

Suddenly, Elbaite and Dravite approached the two from the side.

"Still no luck." Elbaite stated.

"We should just tear this whole place down." Dravite suggested.

"As big of a fan I am of the slash and burn tactic, I'd rather not destroy an entire ecosystem for what is most likely a wild goose chase." Topaz argued.

Dravite rolled her eyes while Elbaite groaned.

"I knew that she would be a pain to find but this is just asinine." She complained.

"It'll be a lot easier to find her if you guys just kept quiet and looked." Black Pearl interjected.

"She has a point." Topaz agreed.

In another space, Pegmatite, Rubellite, Chrysoberyl and Jet's search was giving them no advantage. They perused the outside of a giant, ruined spaceship but saw no signs of life in it at all. The inside however looked like it was ransacked. Jet leaped down from the top of the ship to be caught by Pegmatite.

"Looks like Feldspar got what she wanted. No point in sticking around with whatever amount of salvaged technology she got I suppose." Jet stated.

"Hey Chrysoberyl. Can't you just use your life scanner or whatever thing you have to find some gems?" Rubellite asked.

"Negative. It was designed only to track Rose Quartz." The golem stated.

"Seriously? Why have something that good if it can't track other signs of life?".

"Ask Feldspar.".

"I would if we could find her!".

Pegmatite let out a bellow of protest. Rubellite clammed up and looked up to her big friend.

"I'm sorry Pegmatite, I won't raise my voice anymore." She promised.

Lastly, the remainder of the group met up around the warp pad. Tanza sat down with her hands on her cheeks as she blankly stared up at Buergerite. Uvite walked up next to her while Sardonyx stomped over to the group.

"I can't believe this whole thing was bunk. Haven't heard a word from the rest of the group and we've been searching for nearly an hour." Sardonyx stated.

"Real pain in the ass if you ask me." Uvite stated.

"Vulgarity will get us nowhere. In all honesty I shouldn't even be here. Field work was never my forte." Buergerite stated, "I'll let the others know that I would like to leave now.".

"I guess I'll join you." Tanza stated.

"I'll head out too.." Sardonyx said.

"Yeah I'm done." Uvite declared.

"Okay. Do me a favor though and stick around for a bit Sardonyx. Just let Tourmaline and the rest of the group know we went off." Tanza stated.

With that, the the three gems vanished in a flash of light and disappeared.

Meanwhile, the other gems looked back on the light just in time to witness the warping effect. Tourmaline cocked his head to the side.

"Think that was Feldspar?" He asked Taz.

"Doubt it. Not enough explosions or noise for her to hint it's her." She said.

Tourmaline laughed as he reached over his shoulder to ruffle her hair.

"Quite the detective aren't ya? If the others have gone back, you wanna go back too?" He offered.

"Sure. I don't see much point in hanging around.".

Tourmaline ran back to the warp pad with Taz on his back. When he arrived, he saw the other gems meet around there.

"So your crew just left?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, we couldn't find anything and it didn't seem like you guys did either." Sardonyx stated.

"I'd say that's the smart thing to do. My group went over to the ship, despite the warnings, and found that it was pretty stripped down. Our bet is that Feldspar was here, but she just grabbed what she wanted and left a while ago." Jet brought up.

Garnet rubbed her temples.

"I know something is supposed to happen now! This doesn't make any sense." She stated.

Pearl and Amethyst walked over to their leader and comforted her.

"Easy G, things don't always go according to plan." She assured her.

"We'll get her, don't worry about it." Pearl added.

Topaz scratched his head.

"Well I'm still gonna stay behind. There has to be some sort of clue around here. I've been doing nothing but train and I'm dying for some action." He stated.

"Okay then, anyone else staying?" Tourmaline asked.

"I'll stay with you." Jet said.

"Same here." Obsidian added.

"We're here." Elbaite said, with Dravite by her side.

"I know there's something here. I'm staying behind." Garnet added.

"Guess we're staying too." Pearl added.

"Aw man." Amethyst said under her breath.

"I will remain here." Chrysoberyl said coldly.

"I'll stick around too." Black Pearl said.

Pegmatite, Rubellite, Taz, Steven, Sardonyx and Lapis got on the warp pad. Garnet crouched down and patted Steven on the head.

"Be good. We'll be back home in no time." Garnet requested.

"Okay Garnet." He agreed.

The gems smiled at him and waved him off as the other gems waved the rest of the group off. They teleported away, and then the remaining gems looked at each other.

"So, ship?" Tourmaline asked.

"Ship." Garnet repeated.

The gems move over to the ship. Once they made it to the destroyed ship, Tourmaline leaped up to the hole in the roof, sitting on the edge while egging the other gems to come back up. Each of the gems leap up while Tourmaline stared at the twilight sky. Topaz and Jet sat next to him as they looked at the stars.

"Least we got something out of this day." Tourmaline stated.

Elbaite and Dravite looked on with great interest.

"This world is...so beautiful." She stated.

"It's nothing like the Homeworld." Dravite added.

Chrysoberyl was silent as she gazed at the magnificent view, her lips subtly perking into a smile. The crystal gems looked up at the others with smiles.

"They're such kids." Pearl joked.

"We were all like that at some point." Garnet added.

Tourmaline stared up at the sky and noticed a shooting star. He smiled at the sight, knowing of the human rumor that if you see one you can make a wish. It was always amusing to him. His whimsical smile then faded into a concerned look, along with the other gems as the apparent star came closer and closer to the outside rim of the jungle.

"Uh, Garnet! I think the Homeworld gems are here!" Tourmaline declared.

Garnet and the rest of the crystal gems leaped up to the edge with the groups and looked over at the landing ship.

"It looks different from the other ships we saw. It looks...smaller." Garnet stated.

Tourmaline summoned his grieves.

"So you think it'll have a smaller group?" He asked.

"Don't care. We gonna smash em." Amethyst commented.

"Least we got something out of this trip." Topaz added.

/**/

Talc and the cool kids were hanging out at the pier, looking at random passerbys and just talking about their lives. It was midday in Beach City, so nearly everyone was out and about. Buck, Jenny and Sour Cream were sitting on a bench while Talc stood next to them.

"So Sour Cream? Your dad back yet?" Buck asked.

"Nah, he's still out at sea. Little bro is kind of bummed out that he's taking so long but it's the usual thing with him. Mom's doing her best to occupy her time but she's kind of missing Amethyst." Sour Cream stated, "Say Talc! Could you ask Amethyst to come by and hang out with my mom? She's bored out of her mind.".

"Oh uh yeah, sure." Talc said.

"You've been kind of quiet man. How are things with your life?" Sour Cream asked.

Talc leaned against the pier's railing.

"Well I don't really have much of a life." Talc stated.

The other two looked over to him.

"What are you saying?" Buck asked.

"Well...I came here from the Homeworld and I didn't have a lot to do there. I'm the weakest gem on the whole planet. Even standard drones are stronger than me. I just wandered around and did most of nothing. Then I discovered Elbaite and the rest of her group and we became friends. We left the Homeworld, but now they have their own roles and I don't really have that much to do myself. So...I don't really have a point." Talc explained.

The three kids immediately got up and looked at him with intense gazes.

"Don't put yourself down!" Jenny shouted.

"Have confidence in yourself!" Buck added.

"You can be a DJ if you want!" Sour Cream finished.

Talc blinked and then looked over to Sour Cream.

"What's a DJ?" He asked.

"Nevermind that. You got a purpose with your buds man! But you won't find it if you put yourself down!" Sour Cream said.

"Well...I'm not much of a fighter and I'm not smart either so I don't know what I could do for them." Talc stated.

"You got some sort of power? Steven has a cool power, even though he isn't as strong as the other gems." Jenny asked.

"Hm, I don't know. I never bothered thinking about it. Being branded as useless for such a long time didn't do much for me in terms of motivation." The white gem answered.

"The Homeworld sucks doesn't it?" Buck asked.

"It really does." He said.

"Well we can help you figure something out! Or, just hang out for a bit. Your choice." Sour Cream offered.

"You don't have to do anything." Talc said modestly.

"Then let's just have a good time instead." Buck offered.

Talc nodded in agreement. Jenny peeked over Talc's shoulder to see Steven and Taz running across the beach with Tanza.

"Hey look it's Steven!" She pointed out.

The others turned to look at the running group and smiled.

"Let's go hang out with him." Buck declared.

"Sure." Talc said.

The four of them ran off to meet up with the young gems and stir up some more fun.

/**/

In the depths of the jungle, the homeworld ship had finally landed, crushing a few trees under it's weight. The first two gems to exit the ship were Chalcedony and Carnelian. The two looked around to get a view of their environment.

"Hmm, didn't remember it being so rich with flora." Chalcedony commented.

"Earth is filled with various environments, this is just one of them." The orange gem stated, "Just because you saw one area of Earth doesn't mean you've seen them all.".

"Heh, kind of makes you nostalgic don't it?" The blue gem stated.

Carnelian looked over at her comrade with the most disgusted and angry scowl she could muster.

"No.".

Suddenly, Ametrine, Morganite, Kunzite and Spodumene emerged from the ship. Ametrine twirled around to view her environment and show off her new outfit. It was relatively the same, but there was a tear-like pattern around her waist, showing off some skin, a heart design with a yellow band circling around her solar plexus, and a brown satchel that she had slung near her right hip. Carnelian shook her head while Chalcedony paid it no mind.

"I still can't believe you bubbled yourself just to get those stupid details on you." She commented.

"I wanted to look my best for when we go and crush Feldspar sweetie, don't hate." Ametrine said snarkily.

"You always look your best, Ametrine!" Spodumene said.

"Always!" Kunzite added.

The tall purple gem let out an egotistical laugh and smiled.

"You girls always know the perfect thing to say to me!".

Morganite jumped off of the ship and looked from side to side.

"You think we'll see Rose Quartz?" She asked.

Spodumene walked off and landed next to her friend.

"Hopefully not. We'll get our butts handed to us if we do." The chalk colored gem said.

"Awww, I wanna see heeer!" She whined.

Ametrine laid down and looked down at her two subordinates.

"If you really wanna, we can go spy on her for a quick second before we get spotted, okay?" She offered.

Morganite started jumping up and down, letting out an excited squeal.

"You're the best!".

Carnelian looked over to Chalcedony.

"So where do we start? This planet is huge and there are millions of places that traitor could be hiding." She asked her comrade.

"Rose?" Morganite asked.

"No. Feldspar.".

"Well I'm positive that our friends will give us some sort of tip or help in order to find her!" Ametrine declared.

Carnelian gave her a very questioning glare.

"You cannot possibly be seri-".

Suddenly, Danburite leaped out of the ship.

"You guys! I got a transmission from Peridot!" She shouted.

Ametrine smiled smugly, giving Carnelian the best "I told you so" look she could muster, while the latter frowned.

"Show it then." Chalcedony stated.

The small golden gem held out a small pod in her hand and it released a hologram of Peridot's face.

"Oh good you're all here. The Earth gems are strong, so a few of our members will rendezvous with you. They're near you in the jungle, but be warned that a few of the Earth gems are in the jungle as well. Meet up with them as soon as possible. Peridot out." The green gem said in a monotone.

The image disappeared and the dreams looked at each other.

"Well...that's something to go off of." Ametrine stated.

"I remember Peridot being more...nerdy." Chalcedony commented.

"And whiney." Carnelian added.

"Well alright then! It's clear that we gotta go out and save our comrades lest they get ambushed!" Ametrine called out.

The rest of Ametrine's gems surrounded her and they got into one of their special group poses.

"Let's move out ladies!" She declared.

"Right!" The rest of them called out.

They leaped off of the ship and were about to dash off into the jungle, when they noticed that Carnelian and Chalcedony weren't with them. They looked back in unison to see the two of them still standing on the ship.  
"Oh don't mind us! Just go off on your own. We'll be waiting here in case they make it to the ship." Carnelian said.

The group nodded to her and then continued on their way. Carnelian let out a loud groan and fell back on the ship, lying flat on her back. Chalcedony sat down next to her.

"Happy to have a break?".

"Yes. Now be quiet and enjoy this while it lasts." Carnelian ordered.

/**/

Tourmaline continued searching the forest for any trace of Feldspar. Jet and Topaz were closeby, but the three of them were still finding nothing. He heaved a sigh, now regretting his decision to stay behind. Suddenly, he heard the sound of rustling foliage. He didn't really pay that much attention to it, probably just another jaguar or monkey. With that, he decided to turn back. Topaz and Jet followed behind him and they made it back to the warp pad and saw the rest of the gems there. All of them had irritated expressions. Needless to say they had no luck finding anything either.

"Well, guess we could declare this a flop." Topaz said.

"What a waste of a good day." Amethyst whined.

"And what were you planning on doing?" Pearl asked.

"Doing nothing in my room stuffing my face with chips." The small pudgy gem answered.

"I can't believe this." Black Pearl commented.

"Whatever, I'm over it so let's just go ho-" Obsidian said as she started walking to the warp pad.

Suddenly, from a bush to their right, a small, golden gem fell out of it, flat on her face. The other gems gazed at her with shocked expressions, and suddenly four other gems emerged from the bush. The golden gem got up from the ground with an irritated expression.

"Dang it Spodumene! Why'd you push me!?" Danburite shouted.

"I didn't shove you you fell you klutz!" Spodumene argued.

Ametrine got between got between of the two of them.

"Girls, girls! Don't worry about it!" She said.

The two clammed up and calmed down.

"Yes miss." They said in unison.

Ametrine hugged the two of them and smiled.

Meanwhile, the crystal gems stared on at the odd scene. Topaz slowly walked over to Garnet.

"You recognize these guys?" He asked.

"Nope." Garnet stated.

Suddenly, the new gems got into formation.

"So sorry for that! Allow us to properly introduce ourselves. We…" The gems started to move slowly, before quickly shifting into their own dynamic poses, "...Are the Shattered Gems!".

Tourmaline stepped forward and put his hands on his hips.

"What a bunch of douchebags." He said bluntly.

The Shattered Gems were taken aback by this statement, while Amethyst started laughing as hard as she could, slapping her leg and holding her stomach.

"Good one Tourmaline!" She shouted.

"Why...such vulgar language from an arrogant little jerk!" Kunzite shouted.

"Yeah that'll make me feel bad." He laughed.

"Well we're gonna beat your face in!" Spodumene yelled, rushing at him.

Tourmaline quickly rushed in towards his opponent and punched her square in the face. The somewhat tall gem fell straight down and grabbed her now broken nose.

"Geez the Homeworld is really scraping the bottom of the barrel if you five are the best they have to offer." He taunted.

Spodumene immediately got up to her feet and glared at Tourmaline.

"I'm not even pumped up yet you little idiot!" She shouted as her body started to swell up.

Spodumene flexed her arms, but Ametrine stepped in front of her. She looked down at Tourmaline with a curious gaze.

"Huh, you're a weird fusion. They're usually big and weird looking. But you're...pretty easy on the eyes." Ametrine complimented.

Tourmaline blinked at the statement and shook his head. She giggled and looked back to him with mischievous look.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Tourmaline.".

"And are you the leader around here?".

"Uh, no. The leader here is Garnet." He said, pointing back at her.

Ametrine tilted her head looking at the tall, square gem.

"All you Earth gems are really cute. It's a shame that you're going to end up destroyed. Wanna come with me instead?" She offered.

Garnet shivered at the thought.

"In your dreams weirdo!" Amethyst shouted.

"How sad. My associates could use some more friends." She laughed.

Topaz stepped forward and looked over at the tall purple gem.

"There's more of you?" He asked.

"Oh just two more." She said.

Topaz was silent and then walked back over to Black Pearl.

"Black Pearl, let's go after them. I can trace their steps back to whatever ship they went came from. It'll be a breeze!" He whispered to her.

"Are you insane? They could be incredibly strong!" She stated.

"I doubt it, otherwise they'd be out here in the field." Topaz argued.

"Bring Chrysoberyl!" She shot back.

The two of them looked over to see Chrysoberyl walking over to the warp pad. All eyes were on here as she walked away.

"Where you off to Chrysoberyl?" Obsidian asked.

"Home. I shall not participate in this battle." The golem stated.

"Any particular reason?" Elbaite asked.

"No.".

With that, she warped away. And then Topaz grabbed Black Pearl by the hand and disappeared into the brush.

"It'll be a snap!" He stated.

"Fine! If only because you won't let me say no." She argued.

The gems numbers whittled down from eleven to eight, but they still had the advantage. Spodumene and Kunzite started to shake with rage.

"They're mocking us!" Kunzite shouted.

Ametrine just smiled and looked on at her potential opponents.

"Well now, this is a little bit unfair, but it's nothing we're not used to, right girls?" She asked.

They nodded in agreement. The gems summoned their weapons, and the Shattered Gems did the same. Kunzite pulled out a chain, Danburite brought out a curved cane, Morganite summoned a spiked shield, Spodumene brought out a small chain, and Ametrine pulled out a police baton with a spike on the end near the handle, and a blade on the end of the grip. The gems stared each other down, but suddenly, Tourmaline noticed a shadow forming around his body. He looked up at the sky and saw the form of three other gems falling down towards him. He leaped backwards just in time to dodge the vicious ambush. A cloud of dust formed, and as that cloud settled, it revealed three gems: Sphene, Heliodor, and Iolite. The other gems expressions shifted from serious to mystified once again.

"What the...what are you doing here!?" Jet yelled.

"Simple, to kill you." Heliodor said.

"We are reunited with our comrades and now we will make you pay for what you've done to us." Iolite added.

"But...Feldspar took you away! How did you get free!?" Pearl asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Sphene uttered.

"Alright, eight on eight! That's fair." Ametrine stated, "Now...who fights who?".

Heliodor glared at Ametrine.

"What does it matter!?" She yelled.

"Well you shouldn't let people get paired with someone who's far stronger than them. It wouldn't be fair." Ametrine said.

"I'm fighting Tourmaline!" Spodumene said quickly.

Kunzite shook her head.

"He laid you flat with one punch and his weapon wasn't even out yet. You'll get demolished by him." The buff gem argued, "I think you'd do better against that small black one.".

"But...I wanted to fight her." Danburite said sheepishly.

"You could fight the Pearl." Morganite said.

"You fight the Pearl! I never get to fight who I want!" The tiny gem complained.

The five gems looked at each other and then formed a circle, with Ametrine having her back turned to the rest of gems. Everyone stared at the awkward situation, the sound of the Shattered Gems chanting, "Once, twice, shoot!", could be heard.

"Are they seriously playing rock, paper, scissors?" Obsidian asked.

"It seems like it...wow." Jet said.

Before anyone else could comment on the odd display, Tourmaline kicked forward, sending a ball of green energy at Ametrine's back. The blow hit, resulting in a mildly large explosion, and the leader of the shattered gems fell forward. The other members of the group stood around her, horrified at what happened to their leader, quickly shifting to rage at Tourmaline.

"You dirty cheat! How low can you stoop to attack a beautiful gem when her back is turned!?" Morganite shouted.

"What idiot would wait!?" Tourmaline yelled back.

The four gems got in front of their downed leader with ferocious expressions.

"**YOU'RE DEAD YOU SCUM!**" They all shouted in unison.

"Girls...calm down." Ametrine told them.

The four of them snapped out of their enraged states and looked back at Ametrine. Her back was smoking a bit, but she was unhurt from the sneak attack. She got up to her feet and pushed Morganite and Kunzite aside and looked at Tourmaline with an evil expression.

"That was quite a cheap shot you pulled on me. Didn't anyone teach you your manners?" She asked.

Tourmaline smirked and got into his fighting stance.

"Nah, the guy I spent most of my time around is a pretty rude bastard." He joked.

She laughed under her breath.

"Well I'll have to give him a talking to about your behaviour later. For now, I think I'll play with you. I was hoping to strike down your leader, but you'll make a good warmup." The purple gem threatened as she pulled out a gem destabilizer.

"Tch. You call me a cheater when you're resorting to those toys." He spat.

"Oh, well in that case…" She said, grabbing the destabilizer with her other hand, then pulling out another destabilizer from her pouch, "...How about I let you have one too?".

Tourmaline was silent, glaring at his opponent. He wouldn't fall for simple tricks. Ametrine got impatient as he just stood his ground.

"What's wrong with you? Take it." She insisted.

He remained motionless. The rest of the shattered gems just gazed at their leader.

"_What is she thinking? Either way, it's so cool!_" Morganite thought.

Ametrine tilted head and sighed with a smile on her face. She deactivated both of her destabilizers and put them back into her pouch.

"Guess that's not the type of game you wanna play." She said.

Tourmaline nodded.

"You're really making me work for this, but it's been awhile since I actually had to try to get what I want." She claimed as she brought out another baton, now wielding the two things as tonfas, "I hope you know what you're getting into boy.".

"Uh...ma'am! What about our fight order?" Danburite asked.

"Just go with whoever you want, I don't care right anymore." The leader looked back and told them bluntly.

With that, Tourmaline rushed in and jumped up to hit her head with a roundhouse. Before the blow could connect, she blocked the blow with one arm, reinforcing her defense by holding her arm steady to take it. Tourmaline was surprised by her response. Not only did she notice his attack, but she was able to block it so well. She glared up at him with a malicious smile.

"You just can't stop acting naughty, can you?" She said menacingly.

With that, she grabbed him by the shirt and threw him into the jungle away from the other gems. She rushed in after him and the other gems rushed towards the remaining crystal gems. The heroines braced themselves for the battle.

"Get ready." Garnet told them.

/**/

Topaz and Black Pearl had made it the Shattered Gems ship. He snickered at the sight of Chalcedony just sitting and looking up at the sky. He looked over to Black Pearl, who was already spinning some webs.

"Oh man this is going to be way too easy!" He exclaimed, "I'll strike first, and then you go in for the kill if he dodges.".

"Simple enough...wait! Someone else is there!" She pointed out.

Topaz looked over and his heart stopped. His eyes went wide as he saw Carnelian. Black Pearl stared intensely at the new potential enemy, oblivious to her partner's shock.

"_It...it's not possible...this is impossible.._" He thought.

"Things just got a bit more complicated." Black Pearl pointed out, "So what do we do-".

Topaz ignored Black Pearl and nonchalantly walked out of his cover and into the open.

"Topaz! What the hell are you doing!?" She called out under her breath.

Carnelian looked down at Chalcedony with a somewhat serious frown.

"You think those idiots got in trouble? If anything they should've gotten bored and left by now." She asked.

Chalcedony heaved a sigh.

"I'm sure they're fine. They may act stupid but they are the best in their field. So have some faith and stop being so cynical." The sky blue gem chuckled.

"I just want to get off of this mudball as soon as possible. I hate this goddamn planet. Has nothing but bad memories and...and…" Carnelian said seriously, before trailing off.

She looked away from her partner to see an all too familiar sight. Topaz looked up to her from the small field in front of her ship. The two locked eyes and just stared at each other, both just as perplexed at the sight of one another. Chalcedony sat up and looked down at Topaz as well, standing up with her hand on her hip.

"Well now...not too sure I recognize that one. Friend of yo-".

Carnelian grabbed her friend by the arm and threw her away and towards the center of the ship.

"Stay there." She ordered.

Chalcedony pouted and sat criss-cross.

"Meanie.".

Carnelian leaped down from the ship and slowly walked towards Topaz, and Topaz did the same. The two gems were right in each others face, Carnelian touching his while he touched her shoulder.

"You're real." She uttered.

"You're alive." He said back.

Black Pearl looked over at the scene with a curious gaze.

"_He knows her?_" She asked herself.

Carnelian then shoved him away and started laughing. Topaz could only respond to the sudden action by laughing himself. After nearly half a minute of this, the two regained their sense and looked back to each other with happy eyes.

"What happened all of this time? I could've sworn you died at that battle." Topaz asked.

"Almost. I was vaporized, forced to retreat back into my gem, but somehow I went unnoticed. As soon as I was able, I regenerated and fled the battlefield. It was a losing battle anyway, so I wasn't reprimanded. But ever since then, I worked as hard as I could to make it to the top. I fought countless of enemies of the Homeworld, protecting our home and soon became a top ranking soldier. How about you?" She told him.

Topaz shrugged.

"I ran away. I left the army, I left the homeworld, and I just fought in human wars. Though I have found some very interesting gems along the way. My viewpoint on life has twisted and turned quite a bit since you left. Are...the others alive?" He asked.

Carnelian shook her head. Topaz heaved a sigh.

"Couldn't be too greedy I guess." He said.

"But...it's okay now! We can be together again! Just best friends, just like it was thousands of years ago. You can help me destroy Feldspar, and then we can join up and take what's left of Quartz's troupe down! We can live peacefully and finally put the past behind us!" Carnelian offered.

Topaz's eyes went wide at her sudden offer. She extended her hand out towards him.

"We can stop whatever traitorous scum together. Things can go back to normal." She said, "So come on! What are you waiting for.".

Topaz stared at Carnelian's welcoming stare and then at her eager hand. His long lost friend, from thousands of years ago, finally with him once again. He could go back. He could forget those painful centuries alone and start anew. But...he had forgotten those lonely centuries, the pain had stopped long ago. He was happy...and it was all because of Tourmaline, and his other friends. He has a home. If he could, he would offer her to stay with them...but she would never listen. She won't. She was always loyal to her home until the end, and I doubt that she's going to give up on her ideals now. Topaz started laughing, and Carnelian's smile faded into a concerned expression.

"Why are you laughing?" She asked.

"It's so ironic. I thought that I would never end up like you when we were young. You were always so loyal to Yellow Diamond, willing to do anything for her while I just ran around with you and the the rest of the crew. I remember one time you wouldn't even come bum around with us just because you wanted to train more with some of her upper soldiers. You nearly threw everything away for your loyalty and yet we were still friends in the end despite it because we believed in you. But now...I'm the loyal one, throwing everything away for those who believe in me." He declared, summoning his Sai.

Carnelian stared at him in disbelief.

"I'm all for killing Feldspar, I nearly did it myself. But the gems who fall under Quartz's flags are my comrades now. And besides...there's a kid I've raised. A truly strong gem that I know still considers me his first friend, despite everything we've been through, despite everything I've made him suffer through. Heh, besides...he'd beat my ass if he found out that I turned on him again!" He exclaimed, going into his fighting stance.

Carnelian frowned as she glared at Topaz.

"Earth has changed you. You...you're not the Topaz I knew! He would've taken that offer in a second! He would never betray his friends!" She yelled.

"But I am the Topaz you knew. If it weren't for the countless friends and allies I've made, I would've gone with you in the moment you offered. But...they're too important to me. I can't just leave them!".

Carnelian's eyes started to turn blood red.

"Is that so?" She asked.

With those words, a rapier materialized from her gem. She snatched it out of the air and swung it to the side.

"Then I guess you'll have to fight for them now." She declared.

Suddenly, an object came hurtling towards Topaz. He dodged out of the way, and Chalcedony leaped up into the air to grab it as it arced back towards her. She landed behind Topaz with a stern expression. She held a boomerang in her hand and glared at Topaz's back.

"Against the two of us." Chalcedony said.

Topaz looked back to Carnelian with a smile.

"That's so not fair. But at least my friend has a playmate while we settle this." He said coldly.

Webbing came from behind Chalcedony, grabbing her by the shoulders. Black Pearl yanked her back towards her and rushed in, her legs ready to skewer the opponent. The blue gem quickly spun midair and managed to get away with only a few deep cuts and scrapes. Black Pearl turned her back to Topaz to cover him while Chalcedony landed on her feet, cutting the webbing off of her with her bladed boomerang.

"We'll talk about this later." She stated.

"Sure…it's been awhile since I felt this bad about getting into a fight anyway." He said nonchalantly.

/**/

Garnet locked arms with Spodumene, the two of them mean mugging each other as the other tried to get the advantage. Before Spodumene could react, Garnet kneed her in the stomach, causing the pumped up gem to fall over, and then Garnet smacked her away with one hit from her gauntlet. The mighty gem bounded off the ground but immediately recovered from the fierce hit.

"That all ya got!?" She called out.

Garnet slammed her gauntlets together, creating a very loud boom.

"That was just a love tap." She said menacingly.

Jet dodged Morganite's charge forward and tried to retaliate with a swing of her blade, but the pink gem blocked it. The two of them growled and strained as one tried to push away the other, with Morganite slowly gaining the upper hand. Her spike was almost towards Jet's gem, and she started to panic.

"_Come on I can do this! What would Tourmaline do!?_" She thought.

With that question, she came up with an idea. She threw Morganite to the side and grabbed her shirt with one hand. She whipped her enemy in front of her and then delivered a vicious headbutt. Morganite could feel her teeth crack from the vicious blow, stumbling backwards and leaving herself wide open. Jet swung her blade forward, but the blade missed. Fortunately for her, the acid from her blade managed to get onto her stomach and leg, burning a bit of her flesh away. Jet's head was pounding, but now she had the upperhand and go on the offensive.

Pearl and Danburite fought, with the much smaller gem going on the defensive. She was barely managing to dodge her graceful strikes, but she was merely biding her time for her power to come up. Pearl managed to trip her up, but enough time had passed. Danburite pointed her cane towards Pearl and released a wave of golden energy. Pearl grit her teeth in pain as she felt her entire body freeze up. The tiny gem started laughing and pulled out a gem destabilizer.

"Typical junk from useless Pearls!" She called out.

Pearl glared at the tiny gem and then forced her way through the force with a kick. She nailed Danburite in the jaw and she dropped her destabilizer. The energy encompassing her vanished and Pearl picked up the dangerous weapon while her opponent stared up at her in awe.

"Impossible! That always paralyzes Pearls!" She shouted.

Pearl crushed the handle with one hand and the shocking tool fell to bits.

"I'm not like other Pearls, so you're going to have to try a lot harder if you think you can beat me!" She declared.

"Good one Pearl!" Amethyst called out.

Pearl and Danburite looked over to see Amethyst and Kunzite locked in a tug of war, with her whip entangled with Kunzite's chain.

"Oh, well...you're doing a good job too!" She called out.

"No kidding! How's it that such a shrimp is so strong!?" Kunzite yelled.

Amethyst then pulled out another whip from her gem.

"Cause I'm da best." She declared confidently.

With that, she cracked the second whip forward, wrapping it around Kunzite's arm. She whipped her around in a circle and then slammed her into the ground. As Kunzite got up, Amethyst yanked herself towards her opponent and rolled into a ball, slamming into the giant gem with insane force, knocking Kunzite back down again.

Heliodor was knocked to the ground from an intense punch from Dravite. Heliodor wiped a bit of blood from her lower lip and glared at her enemy, wielding two knives. She threw them forward and grabbed another two, but the brown gem blocked them with her pillar like arms and then charged forward, grabbing Heliodor by the head and slamming her into a tree. Before she could follow it up, Heliodor stabbed the great gem in the arm, causing her to let go. Dravite scowled at the scampering gem, but still kept her cool and continued charging after her.

Sphene was on the offensive with Obsidian, but the giant black gem responded by slamming her hammer into the ground, creating a wall of fire between her and her opponent. She then rushed through the wall with her hammer in hand and knocked away Sphene's giant mace. She then followed up the assault with a shoulder tackle, knocking the giant yellow down, and then picked her up by the waist. She jumped up in the air with her and slammed her back down in front of a now caught and struggling Amethyst and Kunzite. The impact of the power bomb shattered Kunzite's chain and freed the small purple gem. She immediately rolled into a ball and slammed into Kunzite's face, knocking her away. She landed next to Obsidian and laughed.

"That was awesome man! Give me one down low!" She said raising her hand up.

The two gems high fived and went back to their fights. Elbaite was fighting with Iolite, dodging each spear strike while dancing around her to find an opening. Iolite raised her weapon up to slice the green gem down the middle, but she rushed in and stabbed Iolite in the stomach with her katars. Ice blue blood spilled from the gaping wound and Elbaite lifted her up and then slammed her down into the ground.

"_What a joke. Wonder how Tourmaline is doing._" She wondered.

Tourmaline felt intense pain in his right cheek as Ametrine swung the bulk of her baton's weight into his face. He was knocked away a distance while she stood still, still smiling at her new toy. He had bruises, a black eye and a few lacerations here and there on his torso and face, while Ametrine only had a small bruise on her stomach. Tourmaline greatly underestimated her. She was insanely strong.

"Oh come on sweetie, you gotta try harder than that if you're playing with the real deal." She taunted.

Tourmaline kicked a large wave of energy at her. The green, shrieking attack hurtled towards her at an incredible speed. She merely dashed into it and punched forward, the blast dissipating from the force of her punch. Tourmaline's eyes went wide at the insane sight. But despite that, he noticed something. Around her forearms, where the tonfas were, there was a field of bright purple energy surrounding them. Without a doubt they were how she was able to deflect the attack, but that only slightly reassured him in a situation that was turning increasingly grim.

"My turn!" She said giddily.

She dashed in at Tourmaline and then grabbed him by the top of his head by his hair. She punched Tourmaline in the solar plexus as hard as she could. The spike of her baton sinking deep inside of him. She retracted her punch, and then kicked him in the face, tearing off a bit of his hair as he flew backwards. Tourmaline fell flat on his back, with a big gaping hole in his stomach. Ametrine held the stolen hair out in her hand and then blew it away.

"I do hope that Garnet is at least twenty times as strong as you, because you're boring me to tears. No wonder you had to resort to cheap attacks back there, you're so weak." She said mockingly.

Tourmaline scowled at her words, and painfully got back up. Ametrine smiled, delighted at her opponent's conviction.

"At least you can take a beating! But that doesn't mean much when you can't give what you have taken." She said.

"You're right...I am pretty weak." Tourmaline admitted.

Ametrine cocked her head at his statement.

"Oh? Well you know what they say, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery!".

"Yeah I'm weak...compared to Garnet...compared to Chrysoberyl...compared to Pyrite. I'm not the strongest guy, not by any means. But...your defense and your attacks just now...they're nowhere near as strong as theirs." He said as he took off his jacket, resulting in a large, cracking thud as it crushed a tree root.

"And you know what? Even if standing next to them, I look like nothing...compared to a lot of other people I've fought...I'm the strongest fucking person I know!" He shouted, tearing his shirt off.

Ametrine was taken aback by his shout and removal of clothing, but couldn't help but laugh again.

"Oh my word, you're really, really delusional! Face it shrimp you're a fusion the size of a pearl and you may as well have the strength of one too. There are always people stronger than others, but bolstering yourself up by saying you're stronger than others…" She said harshly as she then charged forward, "...is pathetic!".

Tourmaline braced himself for the attack charging at her as well. Ametrine swung first, aiming the spiked end of her baton to shatter his skull, and the hit connected with his head. A splash of green blood filled the air and stained her weapon, and she grinned at the sight of it. But her smile soon turned to shock as she saw that she didn't hit Tourmaline's head, she just took out his black eye. Tourmaline grit his teeth at the insane level of pain he felt, feeling blood leak out the new hole in his head, but he powered through it and slammed his knee into Ametrine's hip. The great gem clenched her teeth and let out a gasp of pain as she felt her hip just shatter, she could feel her throat clench up as she could only cough and sputter in pain. She started to crumble down as Tourmaline moved back in front of her. Tourmaline moved in, his leg primed for a snap kick. Ametrine moved her arms in front of her to block the attack, the purple energy surrounding her arms.

"_Just try it you little punk! My defense is the greatest in the galaxy! You may have gotten a lucky shot off on me, but your wimpy kicks are nothing!_".

Tourmaline brought the kick up, colliding with the energy field, but to her surprise, the kick cut through her shield like a hot knife through butter. The purple energy dissipated, her batons were flung into the air, the blade of Tourmaline's shoe slicing through her arms, leaving two giant holes in her forearms and finally ending with the end of his metallic shoe colliding with her chin, launching her head back. Tourmaline then began to run from side to side some twenty feet back and forth, building up momentum for his greatest assault. As Ametrine looked back, all she could hear was the sound of charging electricity, feel insane gusts of wind hit her from both sides, and see but a blur of her opponent and a strange green light.

"What-" She uttered.

Tourmaline then began his attack, punching her from one side of her face, and then the other. Blow after blow, Ametrine couldn't react in time to the vicious attacks, each one causing a spray of golden blood to come from her nose, mouth and ears. Tourmaline kept up the mach assault, hitting her as hard as he could with each punch until she finally fell, his legs practically bursting with energy at this point. With the thirteenth right hook Ametrine finally lost her footing. In the matter of seconds that this happened, Tourmaline turned around, his legs ready to pop from the output of energy, rushed in and delivered his strongest roundhouse. The bulk of his leg collided with her already cracked hip, creating a boom as loud as a thunder clap.

The other gems stopped fighting for a second at the sound of the peculiar sound.

"What was that?" Elbaite asked.

"You guys got a bomb or something!?" A bruised and bloody Spodumene asked Garnet.

Garnet looked at her beaten opponent with a confident smile.

"Nope. We just have Tourmaline." She said.

As Tourmaline forced Ametrine off of her leg, with a roar of exertion, he released everything he had onto her, creating a massive, point blank explosion of green. Ametrine flew through the air, crashing through branches, trees and whatever was unlucky enough to be in her flight path. Tourmaline rushed forward and caught up to her. With another roar of determination, he released all the energy in his other leg, creating another explosion and rocketing Ametrine up at an angle. The purple gem flew through the air, flipping rapidly as she finally made it to a thick tree, slamming her back against it and shattering the trunk. She fell to the ground with a thud, a pool of gold forming around her, her ponytail now undone in a messy look. Morganite, Kunzite, Danburite and Spodumene shrieked in horror at the sight of their leader in such a hurt state.

"**AMENTRINEEEE!**" They all screamed.

Abandoning their current opponents, they all rushed to their leader's side. Sphene knocked away a distracted Obsidian and ran off while Iolite used her electrified sash to put some distance between her and Jet as she made her getaway. Unfortunately, Heliodor was currently pinned down by Dravite's massive pillar arm. The other gems paid it no mind as they saw Tourmaline walk back into the battlefield. Bloody, shirtless, his right eye still in the process of regeneration, but he still stood tall and confidently. The four remaining members of Shattered Gem glared at him and got behind their leader.

"You no good...horrible...insane...what the hell are you!?" Spodumene shouted.

"I'll...tell you what he is…" Ametrine wheezed.

The others looked back to see her slowly raise up.

"Don't get up! You're hurt really bad!" Morganite insisted.

"Quiet. Move out of the way so I can look at the boy." She demanded.

The four gems clammed up and did as they were told. She got up to her feet, with Kunzite and Spodumene supporting her. Her hair fell in front of her face, which was stained with her own golden blood, as she stared back at Tourmaline, whose eye had finally finished healing. She smirked, showing that Tourmaline had knocked out a few teeth with that rushdown.

"You're...not normal are you?" She asked.

Tourmaline just stared at her.

"Heh, staying silent huh? Well...I don't blame you. You completely demolished me...you don't have to tell me jack. Just know this Tourmaline. Next time we fight...I'm using my "toys". I'm bringing you in, and you're going to be crushed under my boot." She promised.

"And when you come back with your toys, I'll break all of them, and you." He shot back.

Her eyes went a little wide.

"And if I don't...then Garnet will beat your ass to the stone age." He said with a smile.

She couldn't help but giggle at that last comment.

"This is such a weird planet." She claimed.

Kunzite reached into her leader's satchel and pulled out a small orb. She threw it in the middle of the arena and a large flash of white light came out of nowhere. The gems covered their eyes from the intense light, and the Shattered Gems ran off, carrying their leader. Tourmaline shook his head and regained his sight. He stepped forward and heaved a sigh.

"Heh, guess I am getting stronger." He said to himself.

Suddenly, Amethyst and Jet latched onto his body.

"Dude that was awesome! I was kinda worried about you for a second but you kicked her butt!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"That was so cool Tourmaline!" Jet added.

The two girls let go of him and Obsidian and Garnet slapped him on the back, almost knocking him over.

"Good work." Garnet said with a smile.

"Surprised you didn't blow her up with those attacks." Obsidian added.

Tourmaline looked back and smiled.

"Just doing my best." He said modestly.

Elbaite looked on with Dravite, the two of them smiling at the endearing scene.

"_We can end this. We can have peace._" Elbaite thought.

/**/

Chalcedony threw her boomerang at Black Pearl, but the clever pearl countered the attack with her webbing, trapping the bladed thing and throwing it towards a tree. She then charged forward, rushing the defenseless gem down her impaling limbs. Chalcedony could only barely dodge the attacks, being cut and scraped by the vicious onslaught. The spider-like gem then knocked her down with all three of her right limbs and then leaped up to impale her with all six legs. The sky blue gem rolled out of the way, but she was losing the fight.

Meanwhile, Topaz was dodging and blocking Carnelian's own thrusting assault. She had always been fast with her rapier, but this has gotten insane. Luckily for Topaz, it was nothing compared to Tourmaline's speed. He caught the large needle with one of his sai, thrusting it upwards as he stabbed towards her stomach. The blade pierced her gut, but the orange gem broke out of his hold and thrust her sword into his shoulder, pushing him off. He bled orange and she bled red. The two of them panted and looked at each other. Suddenly, the sound of running and yelling was heard. The four gems stopped fighting and saw the Shattered Gems rush towards the ship.

"Carnelian! Get the ship flying! Ametrine's down and the enemy's on our tail!" Danburite cried out.

"What!? Can't it wait!?" She yelled.

Spodumene and Kunzite split from their leaders sides and rushed towards Chalcedony and Carnelian. Spodumene knocked Black Pearl out of the way and grabbed her blue comrade while Kunzite nabbed Carnelian.

"Damn it! We'll finish this next time you traitorous bastard!" Carnelian screamed.

Topaz got up from the ground and started running after her.

"No you don't!".

Suddenly, one of Black Pearl's webs grabbed Topaz by his arm. He stopped moving, being yanked by the thread and looked back at Black Pearl. She had a concerned look on her face. She didn't want him to go, knowing that it would be suicide for him. He took a deep breath and watched as the ship lifted off of the ground and into the air. He walked over to her and helped her off of the ground.

"Let's go see how the others did." He declared.

From up in the sky, Carnelian looked down at Topaz with a bitter expression. Chalcedony walked next to her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. Carnelian was silent. She didn't care about her cohort's presence, she was too transfixed by him.

"_What has this planet done to you?_" She wondered.

/**/

The two gems walked back to the the rest of their crew perfectly fine, with Dravite holding a struggling Heliodor.

"Woah. Heliodor showed up to the fight?" Topaz asked.

"Yeah, along with Sphene and Iolite. We're gonna interrogate her about this mess." Elbaite stated.

"Least we got something out of this mess." Garnet said.

Heliodor still struggled and kicked in vain to get free.

"Like I'll tell you stupid, gross, idiotic, dirt heaps anything! Let me go or I'll rip you to shr-".

Black Pearl smacked her with one of her limbs, knocking the trapped gem unconscious.

"Always wanted to do that." She said proudly.

"Spunky." Tourmaline commented.

Black Pearl looked back at Tourmaline with a suspicious gaze.

"What'd you just say?" She asked.

Tourmaline laughed and put his hands behind his head.

"Nothing. Now come on let's go home.".

/**/

The gems were back home, with Heliodor stuck in the middle of the living room, bound by Amethyst's whip and Black Pearl's thread. Topaz and Garnet were glaring down at her as she continued to thrash about.

"Let me go already! You may as well kill me cause I ain't saying anything!" She shouted.

"You're going to talk to us and the sooner you do the better." Garnet said.

Heliodor spat in her face. Garnet just stood there, stone faced while Heliodor laughed at her. The others rolled their eyes at the immature behavior. Amethyst then looked at the back of her neck to see a tiny spike sticking out of it. Amethyst nudged Tourmaline and pointed at it. Tourmaline saw it and formed a claw hand. He slowly approached her as she yapped at Garnet.

"Yeah how you like that you stupid jerk!? I'm never gonna talk, I'm just gonna yell and irritate you and make holding me a living hell! And when you're sick and tired of me, you'll shatter me and you'll get nothing from-GACK!" She yelled out.

Tourmaline yanked out the spike from the back of her neck, ripping out a small, screw like device. Tourmaline then crushed the device and Heliodor looked back at the others.

"What the hell am I doing here?" She asked herself.

Amethyst walked over in front of her.

"You had a weird thing stuck in the back of your neck." She said.

"What thing? What are you...wait. I remember! I was in that freak Feldspar's lab. She stuck these weird things in the back of our necks and then everything went blank." Heliodor recollected.

Garnet looked down at her.

"What else is there? What do you know?".

"I don't know. I can't remember anything else. She mentioned something about...genetics and...experiments? I really don't know." Heliodor said.

Garnet stood back up and put her hand on her chin.

"Everything you mentioned sounds awful." Tourmaline said, "Least we have something on her now.".

"And it'll go bad if we don't stop her soon." Pearl said.

Suddenly, Steven and his crew walked into the room to see this odd situation. All of the gems stared at the hostage with curiosity.

"What's...what's happening here?" Steven asked.

Amethyst waved to him.

"Oh hey Steven! Oh man you missed some crazy stuff." She exclaimed.

/**/

Feldspar started tapping her finger against a glass screen, then slamming her fist through the screen. She was seething with anger. Of all the useless enemies the Earth gems could have gotten, she got a circus act. That attack should've wiped them out, but it was a complete failure. She lost Heliodor, and the other two are in bad condition. Fluorite and Jasper are still fighting the brainwashing process, but at least the rest of them were under her control. She was losing her mind. Suddenly, she heard an explosion from inside the lab. Liddicoatite rushed in, bloody with a broken arm.

"Mistress...I tried to stop him but-".

Feldspar faced her.

"Stop who!?" She asked.

"Chrome T-".

A green fist with silver lines burst through her chest and ripped out, causing her to retreat into her gem. Feldspar was face to face with her latest creation. He looked her in the eyes with a black emerald glare.

"Where am I...what is this shithole?" He asked in a deep, angry tone.

"My lab...my son." She said calmly.

"Son...what are you talking about?".

"I created you for the sole purpose of spreading destruction. You came out...different then I was expecting, but this is a pleasant surprise. I'm surprised that you broke out of the containment bubble...but that doesn't matter. Now that you're here...I can start with my true work. Phase two is complete. Time to move on to phase three." She said with a sadistic smile.


	34. Chapter 34: The Lightning Sphere

Chapter 34: The Lightning Sphere

Feldspar's gaze was transfixed on several flashing screens, displaying different forms of data of the growth chambers. Every second, the machines absorbed some form of data of whatever corrupted gemstone was in its respective chamber. So far she had analyzed seventy percent of the gems she had acquired from her enemies, and she has gained some very valuable information to formulate her next step. Now she just needed a way to get the correct resources. In another screen, she had sent out drone flies to scavenge the world for information. Any lead on an untapped resource would be invaluable. Suddenly, she heard a door sliding open from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see her beloved daughter standing firmly with a slight smirk on her face, and behind her was her latest creation. Pyrite placed her hand on the somewhat smaller gem's chest and walked forward.

"Stay here for a second. Gotta give mom the report first." She commanded.

The masculine figure looked up at her from the shadows and stood still. Pyrite stepped into the lab and looked down at her mother. Feldspar turned away from her monitors and looked the mighty gem in the eyes.

"Any progress with your tin cans?" She prodded.

"As a matter of fact yes. I may not have every single bit of data, but as of now I have more than enough to start on the next step of the plan. Just need you to do a quick errand run for me." She explained.

Pyrite chuckled "May I go over my progress now?".

Feldspar nodded and Pyrite crossed her arms.

"His power is incredible. It's only been one week of constant training, and he can already summon his weapon and keep up with me at twenty percent power." Pyrite grinned.

Feldspar's organic eye went wide and her synthetic eye formed a single pupil for a quick second.

"Already!? I know I made him powerful, harnessing the power of all those gems with Tourmaline's blood, shaped his core to be like him, but this already?" She announced.

"Heh. Don't be so surprised. Surely you noticed that there was something else going on with him as he was incubated. I didn't pay attention to it, but training him now, I see myself in him." She boasted.

Feldspar raised an eyebrow. It sounded absurd, but looking back, Pyrite was actually bleeding a bit. It could be that a bit of her blood mixed in with Tourmaline's. So the subject wasn't just a model based off of Tourmaline, but a pseudo fusion of his power and Pyrite's.

"This is incredible. How could you tell?" She asked.

Pyrite shrugged.

"There are just similarities between us. From our powers, to our strength, to our defense...there is no perfect match in any category but they're so obvious I can't ignore them.".

"And what power did you fight the crystal gems with?" The cyborg asked.

"Sixty percent.".

Feldspar rubbed her chin.

"Interesting. Granted they have gotten much stronger since then, but with a development like this, we have a far better chance to assimilate them." She hypothesized.

"Ha! There's no need for assistance. I'm tired of holding back, and now that I have a good challenge, I can finally let go completely and go to one-hundred percent. Tourmaline and his little friends have gotten too complacent. They need a reminder to realize how powerless they truly are." Pyrite sneered.

"Hmm...fine. Do what you like, but I want you to take the boy with you. Let us test his skills in the field." Feldspar suggested, "Also, take the latest members of our army. Let the dogs of war off the leash. For now though...bring him in.".

Pyrite's grin grew very wide and faced the door.

"Come in! You're about to be briefed on your first assignment!" She shouted.

The door opened up, separating in three ways from the center, and the tall, muscular boy slowly walked through the door.

"Glad to hear you're finally letting me loose doctor." He said in a deep, cocky tone.

"Would you drop the attitude and act serious? The result of this mission could very well determine whether you live or die." She scolded.

"Heh, you can't kill me. I've only been alive for a week and I can tell your threats are as empty as the clod's heads who are dumb enough to try and stop us. Now then, tell me what you want from me." He sneered.

Feldspar frowned. With a wave of her hand, a monitor appeared in front of the boy. On the screen, clips of various scenes of humans living their lives. He tilted his head and in curiousity.

"This planet is inhabited by millions of species of animals, but the dominate race are humans. They created civilizations, participated in wars, and are a stain on this planet. If things went well, they would've gone extinct. But...some of our kind betrayed us." Feldspar explained.

The images on the screen changed from human activity, to footage of the crystal gems and Tourmaline's crew fighting various enemies, including Pyrite.

"These...crystal gems are aligned with the humans. They protect them, and they are the main threat to our mission. Their views are barbaric. They are nothing but relics from the past. I intend to drag them into the future of progress. Them...and the Homeworld. Our race has grown complacent, divided by petty hatred, all because of those primitive, disgusting creatures. Earth is a wonderful planet, but it must be cleansed. We shall cleanse it together, and unite our race under one rule. My rule. And if anyone stands in our way or rebels against us? They will be shattered into millions of pieces.".

The footage kept going, and he was particularly intrigued by Tourmaline.

"So...that's who I came from?" He asked.

Feldspar nodded.

"Yes, your base is from him. His name is Tourmaline, and he is an experiment of mine that went rogue.".

"He's one of the most powerful gems the enemy has. He was able to force me into my gem when we came back here. Don't get the wrong idea though, I greatly underestimated him and thus I paid the price." Pyrite commented, a scowl growing on her face.

There was a wicked smile on his face.

"Interesting. I can't wait to destroy him." He commented.

"No. Under no circumstances should you face him. At your current stage, he would crush you." Feldspar warned.

"Tch, bull crap. With that speed? Those powers? If Pyrite can wear him down in under ten minutes, I can easily handle him." He boasted.

Feldspar looked over to Pyrite.

"What do you have to say about this?".

"I say we should let him go. He may not have his exact destructive force yet, but his speed is still very impressive, his strength is superior to Tourmaline's, and most importantly, he can outlast him. He can't beat me at the same level of strength that Tourmaline can't beat me, but the difference is that he can last a lot longer than him. The longest it had been was one hour." Pyrite stated, "He can match or even kill Tourmaline.".

Feldspar stared at Pyrite's confident expression, and then back to the person in question.

"Seems as though you have quite a lot of expectations to live up to. You can break him and bring him back to us." She relented.

"So is this my decided mission? To kill his punk ass?" He asked.

"Not exactly, but if you happen to see him, do try. But first, you should probably decide on an outfit for yourself. You've spent your entire time conscious with nothing on looking like a doll." She suggested.

"Hmph.".

A bright flash of dark green and it was done. Pyrite let out a quick chuckle at his choice, but it wasn't out of mockery.

"Now then, let's get to business." He demanded.

"Right. There's an artifact of unimaginable power hidden all the way near Earth's South Pole. It's in a still active temple, but I doubt it's nothing you can't handle. It's called the lightning sphere, and with it's power, worrying about building up resources for my creations will be no more. This mission is far too important to bank on just my daughter, so you, Fluorite, Jasper, and Liddicoatite will go to the temple." She explained.

"And if we happen to see any crystal gem scum clods standing in our way?" Pyrite asked.

"Bring them back in tact and we'll see how strong their wills our." Feldspar demanded.

"Can do.".

"Your trio will handle any and all gems that come to the temple, but I will elect him with the job of bringing in Tourmaline.".

"Got it." He said confidently.

The two gems walked out to meet up with Liddicoatite and the rest of the team.

"One more thing before you go." Feldspar requested.

The two of them turned back to her. She smiled at the both of them.

"Have fun on your first day out...Chrome Tourmaline." She said in a sinister tone.

Chrome Tourmaline merely chuckled at her sentiment and walked out of the room.

/**/

The crystal gems were in the middle of a frozen landscape. All that surrounded them were thick sheets of ice and the whiteness of the void. The trio of gems were accompanied by Steven, Tourmaline's group of friends, Lapis Lazuli, Black Pearl, and Elbaite's party, minus Talc and Chrysoberyl. Steven and Taz were in proper winter gear, but the two of them still felt the cold, however that was nothing to the experience that Obsidian and Black Pearl were feeling.

"Remind me why we're out in the middle of nowhere on the bottom of the world, freezing our butts off again?" Obsidian complained.

"Garnet got a lead on where Feldspar and her crew may strike next. We messed up last time but this time we should have a good chance to beat them to it." Steven explained.

Obsidian growled, rubbing her arms to generate some sort of heat.

"I swear Garnet if this turns out to be a bust I'm piledriving you through this ice." She threatened.

"Good luck with that." Garnet replied.

Topaz nudged the buff gem with his elbow.

"What's the matter? Can't you just use your inner fire to heat yourself up or something?" He teased.

Obsidian glared down at him.

"It's not like I have a furnace in my belly you dolt. Now keep that coy attitude in check, or I will piledrive you through the ice!" She shouted.

Topaz stepped away from the agitated gem and walked next to Tourmaline and Black Pearl. Tourmaline had given her his jacket to deal with the cold.

"Seems that Black Pearl is pretty strong to wear your jacket like that." Topaz commented.

"I don't have the weights in it. I'm taking them out whenever we go on a mission from now on." He stated.

"No point in holding back anymore." Black Pearl added.

Suddenly, the group saw the outline of something large in the midst of the blizzard. They quickened their pace and the vague outline revealed itself to be a large culmination of light blue domes engulfing one another. Obsidian and Black Pearl grinned, hoping the inside would be warmer, but Garnet and Elbaite frowned when they noticed that the front door was blown in.

"Damn it! They beat us to it again!" Elbaite exclaimed.

Tourmaline rushed forward and to the entrance.

"We don't know that yet!" He claimed.

Topaz ran after him, the others following the two hasty men.

"Something tells me rushing into an unknown fortress like this is a bad idea!" Pearl claimed.

"Yeah but it's the only idea we got!" Amethyst yelled back to Pearl.

Tourmaline and Topaz entered the abandoned base to see the inside to be in disarray. Chunks of the walls, floor, and ceiling were blasted away and broken. Rubble and blood were strewn about the floor in various places. Whatever was fought here was taken down quickly, but not mercifully. The group looked around the room to see any signs of it's intruder. The only way that wasn't blown apart were the stairs, so they quickly leaped up the stairs and rushed to the next floor. After a quick flight, the group entered a giant, flat space the size of half a baseball field. Near the ceiling, there was a ring of ice blue lighting pulsating through the metallic walls. There were a few balconies overlooking the floor from the ceiling. Steven and Taz looked at the place with curiosity.

"What is this place?" Steven asked.

"Looks like some gladiator arena." Sardonyx suggested.

"More like a personal battlefield." Jet declared.

"You're both wrong..." A familiar wicked voice called out.

All the gems looked forward to see a familiar, giant, black and silver gem walk over to them in a calm manner. Each of the gems went into a defensive stance, not willing to let such a dangerous enemy catch them off guard.

"...It's your own, personal graveyard." Pyrite finished.

Tourmaline stepped forward, standing between his group of friends and Pyrite. He stopped about ten feet in front of them, and Pyrite stopped twenty feet in front of him.

"Long time no see, my little annoyance." Pyrite chuckled.

Tourmaline smirked.

"I'm surprised you actually had the courage to come out here, considering how it went with just me and Obsidian. You sure you want to do this with an entire group? After all, it was throwing yourself into this situation that got you killed in the first place." He taunted.

"Yes, it seems as though you got some new recruits as well. Guess you had to look far and wide to replace those three worms then." She shot back.

Tourmaline's smile disappeared. Steven squeezed through the group and ran past Pearl and Garnet. The two reached out to grab him but he ran just out of their reach.

"Steven!" Pearl whispered.

Steven ran next to Tourmaline with a determined look on his face.

"Why can't you just go away and leave us be!? We beat you once, and you know it'll happen again!" He declared.

Pyrite frowned at the boy.

"Oh, if it isn't the brat that resurrected me. It was poetic using Earth's guardian gem to bring me back to life, but that doesn't mean I'll be merciful to you." She growled.

"Just back off and live your life away from us! Stop hurting people for no reason you jerk!" He shouted.

Pyrite's anger was rising.

"You don't get it you irritating little pest. I have to fight you, and I have to kill you! At first it was simply to follow mother's orders, but you made this personal. After Tourmaline killed me, I spent my days trapped in the kindergarten, afraid to leave, staying by my deformed and crippled mother's side, just waiting for the day you would all come and finish us off. Instead of ruling over the galaxy by my mother's side I was grieving over a handful of shards with my now cybernetic freak of a creator!" She shouted as she took a few steps forward, "You've forced me into this position Tourmaline, and you're forcing me to try harder than I ever had before. I'll make sure you all suffer for that as well.".

Tourmaline and the others got ready for her to make her move, with Steven slowly taking steps away from Tourmaline so he wouldn't get in his way. But as Pyrite stopped, Steven stopped, with the others slowly meeting the boy half way. However, Tourmaline stood tall against his nemesis, with his friends behind him, ready to help.

"You may have been a nightmare to deal with before Pyrite but as you experienced first hand, I've gotten stronger, and the same can be said for all of my friends. So walk away and you won't have such a bad time again." Tourmaline threatened.

"The times that we fought, you merely caught me off guard! I underestimated each of your skills but I won't make that mistake again! When we fought I used sixty-percent of my power. Let's see how you can deal with me at ninety-percent!" She shouted.

Pearl and the others flinched at the claim.

"What!? She was holding back each time we fought her?" Jet stated.

"No way. She's bluffing. She's gotta be." Rubellite declared.

"Well we're about to see if she is, be prepared guys." Dravite warned.

Pyrite summoned her spiked cestus and let out a low, guttural growl as black energy formed from her arms, engulfing her body. The growl turned into a roar of anger as it consumed her, releasing a pushing force, slightly moving Tourmaline back. Under the black void, Tourmaline could see her muscles swell up like usual. So far it seemed like her normal power up, but then, the unexpected happened. The black void around her suddenly turned into a vibrant, shimmering mass of silver. It shot upwards, releasing a massive gust of wind from her very being, pushing Tourmaline back several feet. The bright energy dissipated around her, leaving only a shimmering silver and black aura emanating from her being, revealing her new form. She was almost completely silver, outside of her torn suit, and what little patches of black skin were on her body. Her hair had black streaks in it, and her eyes were like a starless, night sky with a silver diagonal waxing moon in each void. She was taller, buffer, and angrier than the gems have ever seen her. Each of the gems stared at her, either their jaws slack or simply mistified by her presence.

"Holy crap, that's insane!" Tourmaline commented, "How the hell did she hide that kind of power for so long?".

"Okay, she's pretty strong now...but if we can lure her outside, we might have a chance." Lapis suggested.

"If we're able to survive long enough." Topaz said grimly.

Tourmaline's shocked expression turned back into his cocky smile.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you were holding back. Thought you would bust this out sooner, considering how eager you are for revenge." He commented.

Pyrite grinned.

"That stupid attitude of yours is near the top of the list of the many reasons I want eradicate you and every single person around you." Pyrite commented.

Tourmaline summoned his grieves and stared her down.

"You want me to make the first move?" He asked.

"Don't be rude. You should wait for the rest of my team to come in first." She said.

The group of gems gathered together in a near straight line to stare down Pyrite. Garnet and Black Pearl raised an eyebrow to the statement she made. Before either of them could say a word, from two balconies above them, Fluorite and Jasper leaped down, landing with a mighty crash, cracking the ground next to Pyrite. The two gargantuan gems stood up, their weapons already out and glared at the gems with devilish grins. Pearl and Jet's eyes went wide.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Amethyst added.

"I've been looking forward to crushing you worthless traitors." Jasper growled.

"I'll tear you apart!" Fluorite shouted.

Tourmaline tilted his head in confusion.

"Really now? And I thought you were gonna make this special. Fighting me and my friends all by yourself at your new power level, having an epic duel in this arena. Those two kind of kill the mood." He joked.

"Tch, if that ruined your fun, then you're really going to hate this next tidbit of info. I'm not going to fight you today." Pyrite declared.

Tourmaline's eyes went wide at the surprising statement.

"What!? But...why all this then!? Why bother even showing up to fight if you don't want to fight me!?" He asked.

"I know, I know, I don't like it too much either, but I'm placing my faith in some very capable hands." She jested.

"Then where are they then? All I see are two extras that could barely hold up against my friends." He hissed.

"Actually, you're wrong!" A deep, cocky voice called out.

Tourmaline and the gems looked around the room to see where the source of the sound was coming from.

"There aren't two other gems...there's three!" He shouted.

From a balcony behind them, a figure leaped all the way behind Pyrite, landing with another loud, cracking thud. Pyrite grinned and moved her hulking frame to reveal the mystery gem. The gems were shocked by what they saw. This surpassed their shock of seeing Pyrite power up by miles.

"What the hell?" Tourmaline muttered.

Walking in front of Pyrite was a gem with Tourmaline's face, and not much else. His skin was dark green, his long, straight hair was dark silver, and his eyes were black. He wore an open vest, showing off his midriff and chest, black pants that clung to his legs, and dark brown gloves. His gems were on his biceps, and he was in between Tourmaline and Garnet in terms of height. He had a devilish grin on his face as he approached his source.

"Hey there...I'm Chrome Tourmaline." He greeted.

"What...what the hell are you!?" Tourmaline shouted.

"Surreal isn't it? Well to cut it short, I'm everything that you are but better. Feldspar made me from a bit of your blood, her blood…" He explained, pointing back to Pyrite with his thumb, "...and a few useless gemstones.".

The crystal gems grit their teeth at that bit of information. Tourmaline tensed up and got ready for him to make a move.

"Now listen here, I haven't lived long enough to say what I would normally do, but I'm just going off intuition and instinct here. I woulda let my associate here beat you to a bloody pulp, but she's given me free reign to kill your ass myself!" Chrome Tourmaline boasted, "So how about we just cut straight to business and get this over with. Die quickly and I'll give you the mercy of letting you not see what the rest of the crew does to your friends.".

"Like hell! Compared to Pyrite and whatever pissants I faced in the past few weeks, you'll be nothing! Clone of me and Pyrite? What a load!" Tourmaline shouted, "You're nothing but another one of her stupid science experiments.".

Chrome Tourmaline laughed, throwing his head back and then flashing a menacing smile and glare at him.

"Maybe I am, but you're forgetting that you are too. The difference between you and me is...that you just became obsolete." He scorned.

Chrome Tourmaline rushed forward and tackled Tourmaline, knocking Jet and Black Pearl to the side. He held onto Tourmaline tightly and then leaped towards a section of the ceiling, knocking Tourmaline through it and out into the blizzard.

"Tourmaline!" Tanza shouted.

Pyrite, Jasper and Fluorite rushed forward towards the gems.

"Worry about yourselves first!" Pyrite shouted.

The gems dodged out of the way of a devastating blow from Pyrite. The punch created a crater the size of a small car while Fluorite attacked Pegmatite, latching onto her arm with her teeth while Jasper tackled Garnet. Meanwhile, Chrome Tourmaline brought Tourmaline down like a meteor and crashed through the ice, both of them began to sink to the bottom the the frozen waters as Tourmaline struggled to get out of his iron grip.

"_Well what do you know he's actually really strong._" He thought to himself.

/**/

Talc and Chrysoberyl were watching cartoons together in Steven's room. The giant gem sat on the floor next to the bed while Talc laid on his belly and stared at the television. It had been some time since the rest of the group wandered off to whatever mission Garnet had planned for them, but he stuck to his instinct and stayed home to avoid making things more complicated with his presence. Buergerite was outside working on the gem chariot.

"So...is this all you two do?" Heliodor asked.

The two gems looked to the side to see the yellow gem stuck to a wall with Black Pearl's webbing.

"Affirmative." Chrysoberyl responded.

"Not much else I can do." He stated.

"How drull and boring." She mocked.

Talc shrugged.

"It's a way to pass the time and get a view on human life, kind of. What I would like to know is why you're staying here Chrysoberyl?" Talc asked.

"Rose Quartz is no longer in this world. My soul purpose was to defeat her. All other opponents are inferior in comparison to the parameters that were established for me." The golden gem explained.

Heliodor tilted her head in her near bondage level imprisonment.

"But Rose is that tiny person, right?".

"Negative. Steven is Steven, an amalgamation of Rose Quartz and human genes. It is not the same thing." Chrysoberyl said.

Heliodor looked away from the two gems and then looked down to the ground. She had to have a moment to take in that information. Talc looked over to the giant gem with sympathy.

"What do you mean by parameters?".

"Feldspar had geared me to battle someone who was in her own league of strength. Someone so powerful that she challenged an entire planet with a fraction of gems, and won. I was made to destroy the galaxy's most powerful gem." She explained.

"Huh. Well...there are still gems like her out there." Talc suggested.

Chrysoberyl looked down to the small white gem.

"Pardon me?".

"I mean...there are a ton of very strong gems out there. Gems that want to hurt this planet and do terrible things to gems and humans alike. You may have lost the one person you really want to fight, but it's silly to cut out any other opportunity to do something good." Talc stated.

Chrysoberyl stared at the small gem for a few seconds, and then stood up. She walked down the stairs and towards the warp pad. Talc walked to the edge of Steven's room and looked over to her.

"Where you going?" He asked.

"To find a purpose." She answered.

With that, she warped away, and Talc was left alone with Heliodor. Talc sat back on the bed and stared at the tv. He grabbed the remote and changed the channel, surfing through channels. Heliodor blankly stared at him, perplexed by his ability to get her away.

"Uh...good job doing that?" Heliodor congratulated.

"Anything you wanna talk about? You feeling alright?" He asked.

"Not really just...worried about my other half." She admitted.

Talc looked over to her with a curious gaze.

"You have a lover?".

"Yeah...her name's Iolite. She's a pretty strong soldier and came with me when we came to Earth. We met about a hundred years ago. It's funny. We're polar opposites but we still find a way to love each other. I wouldn't even have dreamed of coming to this mudball if I didn't know she was going too. And now, she's being used as a tool by some maniac. Not only that, but now I'm strung up on a wall like a goddamn pupating moth while the one keeping me prisoner is weaker than a pearl drone and watching some mindless television." She rambled on.

Talc was silent.

"You...wanna watch some tv too?" He offered.

Heliodor sighed, hanging her head low with her eyes closed.

"Yeah okay." She breathed.

/**/

Garnet held her hands out in front of her to catch one of Pyrite's massive fists. She could barely stand her ground, but she managed to hold on and toss her arm aside and go in after Pyrite. She had turned her attention away from Garnet and was firing at Jet, Sardonyx, Obsidian and Dravite. Garnet slammed her fist into Pyrite's stomach, but it was like throwing a paper ball at a concrete wall expecting it to crumble to dust. She swung again, even harder than before, and got some kind of reaction out of Pyrite. The giant gem grabbed Garnet by the face, lifting her up and slamming her into the ground. She stomped her foot down towards Garnet's head, but the magenta gem rolled out of the earth shattering stomp. Before Pyrite could react again, Pegmatite slammed her fist as hard as she could into Pyrite's back. The silver gem grit her teeth in pain, and then swung around, delivering a vicious back fist, spikes first into her head, causing the colossal gem to be sent rolling away. Pyrite grinned at the resulting hit.

"Inferior craftsmanship mother." She taunted.

Amethyst, Pearl and Elbaite were preoccupied with Jasper. The titanic gem rolled across the area, attempting to slam into an opponent. Pearl and Elbaite dodged while trying to blast her with each individual weapon's energy attack, but the giant orange gem was too fast for her. Amethyst managed to grab Jasper's leg, but the beastly gem's momentum caused her to be dragged away with her. Luckily, Pearl and Elbaite plunged their weapons into the ground and grabbed the small purple gem, and stopped Jasper in the process. The giant gem fell on her back and then turned around, snarling at the trio of gems.

"You ready to snap out of it!? You're being controlled Jasper!" Pearl shouted.

"Feldspar put something in your head and now you're under her control!" Elbaite added.

"The only thing Feldspar gave me is freedom from my wretched planet and the opportunity to crush you for the countless times you humiliated me!" Jasper shouted back, "Tch, why bother with this pointless conversation, when I could just crush you.".

With that, she charged forward at the trio of gems. She swung for Pearl first, but the elegant gem ducked under her strike while Amethyst grabbed her other arm with her whip, giving Elbaite an opening to slice at Jasper's abdomen. She grit her teeth in pain, but managed to slam her head into Eblaite's, causing a stream of green blood to erupt from a cracked wound. She fell on her back, and Pearl thrust her spear into Jasper's ribcage, then quickly ripping it out. Amethyst rolled into a ball and slammed into Jasper's back while Elbaite regained consciousness, and spear kicked Jasper's jaw as she fell over, then getting to her feet.

"Not so tough now without your fancy shock stick are ya!?" Amethyst taunted.

Fluorite was chasing down Topaz, biting at the air like a mad dog desperate to get into his flesh. The nimble gem was dodging each and every attack from the giant red menace. Black Pearl rushed at her from the back, her limbs ready to strike, when the giant suddenly shifted her momentum and faced Black Pearl. On reaction, Black Pearl striked, but Fluorite dodged the attack and lunged in at the small pearl. She dodged her neck being chomped only for arm to be caught instead. She yelled out in pain as purple blood began to spurt from the wound. Fluorite tossed her about like a rag doll, only to be interrupted by Topaz thrusting his sai into her hip. The giant winced in pain, but didn't let go of her prey. Suddenly, Tanza came charging in and slammed her foot into the red gem's abdomen, getting her to spit out Black Pearl. She slid back some tens of feet while Black Pearl stood back up, her right arm now stained purple. Before the group could take advantage of their opening, Pyrite rushed behind them, her arm ready to swing. The next second, she scooped up all of them with the bulk of her arm and threw them towards Pearl's group.

Meanwhile, Lapis was outside, looking for Tourmaline. There was only one opening in the thick ice, but she couldn't just start taking water out of the ocean just yet. She saw cracks in the ice and glows of greens illuminating the white terrain. The fate of Tourmaline seemed rather ambiguous at the moment, but she remained stationed outside. There was only one opening out into the temple, so if she came in, she would be blasted to bits by Pyrite. However, the moment they get out of the temple, they wouldn't have a chance.

Topaz and the rest of his group slammed into Pearl's group, knocking them away from Jasper. The six gems quickly recovered and faced the two giants.

"How you guys holding up?" Elbaite asked.

"Considering the situation we're in? Pretty well." Topaz joked.

Pearl looked over at them and didn't see Steven.

"Wait, where's Steven? And for that matter, Taz?" She asked.

"We sent them ahead, along with Uvite and Rubellite. The four of them should be fine together, and if the lightning sphere is still there, we can grab it and win." Tanza explained.

"Win?" Amethyst asked.

"We get the orb, run like hell, and Feldspar loses something she really really wants." Topaz added.

"And if we can get those devices out of Jasper and Fluorite, we'll get some very powerful allies." Black Pearl added.

"Got any ideas for that?" Amethyst nudged.

"Yes. Just distract them." The black gem declared.

Topaz rushed forward first, rushing at the twin giants. The others followed after him.

/**/

Steven rushed ahead, along with the rest of his group to find a chamber filled with blue light. In front of the source of the light, Liddicoatite was standing, ready to presumably grab the lightning sphere.

"Stop!" Rubellite shouted.

The bright red gem quickly turned around with frantic eyes.

"Stay back! I need this! It's for Feldspar!" She stammered.

"We know who it's for Liddicoatite! What we're trying to understand is why you're with her when you know how crazy she is!" Uvite shouted.

Liddicoatite clenched her fists in anger and stomped down on the ground.

"No! She's not crazy! She knows what she's doing! All of it! She can do anything, she proved it so many times!" She yelled out, "I need her. I need her bad!".

Steven stepped forward and looked at Liddicoatite with a sympathetic stare.

"You don't need anyone Liddicoatite! You can be fine on your own and not depend on her." Steven argued.

The somewhat small gem's breathing went funny for a few seconds, her mind going a million miles a second. She quickly turned around again, shouting no once again. She stared down at the lightning sphere, a ball of bluish, incandescent white light. She breathed heavily over it, trying to calm herself down.

"You've all...never been good to me. Not like her...she's my friend! I can't just abandon her the way she is." She argued.

Steven walked forward, moving closer to the frantic gem. The others slowly followed behind him.

"It's fine. Just calm down and listen to us. I know it's hard for you to accept this, but things have changed." Rubellite stated, "I know how you feel...but it's different now.".

"I..I know...but there's still a chance for her." Liddicoatite said as she turned towards the group.

Uvite stepped up next to Steven.

"It's going to be okay Liddi. It's hard to accept a change this jarring, but that's how it goes sometimes. You need to realize that this change is permanent, she's a monster now.".

Liddicoatite's eyes went wide, her pupils as small as laser pointer dots, and her neutral expression on her mouth shifted into a horrified frown.

"She's turned into something evil, and she has to be stopped or destroyed." Rubellite added.

"I'm sorry...but it's the truth." Steven said.

Liddicoatite shaked with anger, and then slammed her fists onto the pedestal holding the lightning orb, the blue ball falling off.

"No! She's not a monster! They all said that! You said that! The whole Homeworld said that! She's...not...a monster! **STOP SAYING THAT!**" She shrieked.

The group reeled back by her sudden shift in mood. She had a disgusted, monstrous look on her face now.

"Charoite...show them what a monster they think you are.." She said in a twisted, tired tone.

Suddenly, something leaped at them from behind them. With one attack, Rubellite's head was gone from her shoulders, her body poofing away, leaving behind one little pink gem. The newly made trio looked forward to see the culprit of their friend's pseudo death, and we're horrified by what they saw. It stood as tall as Garnet at the shoulder, and was as long as a pickup truck. It had the head and body like a tiger with dark purple fur with several black markings, but the resemblance stopped there. It's teeth were like giant ice picks, neatly lined together to form a vicious grin, and it's six eyes were black with grey pupils like a lizard's. The claws from it's paws were already drawn, and were like a raptor's claws rather than a cat's. Lastly, it's three tails were whipping about with sharp, protruding spikes on the end of each one of them. Liddicoatite placed her hand on it's gigantic head, glaring at all three of the remaining gems.

"You'll all make such fine...experiments for Feldspar. Once we've got the lightning sphere-".

The bright red gem noticed that Taz was holding the lightning sphere in her hands.

"What!? How did you-".

"Telekinesis! Steven, Uvite get us out of here!" Taz shouted.

Steven grabbed Rubellite's gem, and Uvite grabbed the two children. Charoite roared out, and Liddicoatite got onto her back, summoning her weapons. She drew two twin tomahawks, and the giant cat rushed after Uvite. Despite having a ten second head start, the beast was already closing in on her.

"Got any ideas on how to get rid of her!?" She asked.

"Yeah! You guys get dizzy?" Steven asked.

"What?!" They both shouted.

Before they could answer, Charoite was already above them, her paw ready to crush and slash them. Steven quickly bubbled the group, and the strike merely launched them forward, and caused the giant beast to lose it's footing for a second.

"Tricky brats!" Liddicoatite shouted.

/**/

Garnet and Obsidian were slammed away while Jet sliced at Pyrite's body, only to have it bounce off Pyrite's incredibly hard skin. Pyrite grabbed the girl with one hand and began to crush her in her iron grip. Jet cried out in pain as she felt her arms and chest breaking.

"You feel helpless? Is this how you felt when you could only stand and watch as I took Tourmaline away?" She taunted.

Before she could respond, Sardonyx slammed her club into the giant gem's stomach, and Pegmatite slammed her fist into Pyrite's back. The impact was enough for her to drop Jet, but not enough to really hurt her. She spun around in a double lariat, sending the other gems rolling away. She let out a crazed laugh, intoxicated by her own power.

The others were still fighting Jasper and Fluorite, with Black Pearl searching for the opening she needs to get her plan to work. Suddenly, everything stopped when the sound of Steven, Uvite and Taz rolling into the room. Pyrite noticed the glowing orb Tanza possessed, and then saw Charoite charge in after them. The bubble popped as the giant beast pounced on it, sending the trio flying into the center of the arena. Pegmatite noticed Steven holding Rubellite's gemstone, and she let out a bellow of rage. She charged forward at Charoite. Topaz noticed the orb and shouted out.

"Steven! Taz! Get that orb out of here!" He commanded.

Steven and Taz nodded, rushing forward. Pyrite appeared in front of them with a vicious smile.

"I'll be taking that now." She said sadistically.

Garnet, Obsidian and Sardonyx grabbed her by her arms and legs.

"Steven run!" Garnet shouted.

"We got this!" Obsidian added.

"Get off me you pests!" She yelled out, trying to shake them off.

Steven and Taz ran underneath the titanic gems, with Charoite and Uvite following behind them. Pegmatite stomped over them and rushed Charoite, shoving her shoulder under the beast's jaw and holding her front leg's in place. She hurled the giant cat to the ground, and the beast immediately got up and growled at her new opponent, who roared back at her. Charoite leaped forward, jaws wide open, but the giant grey gem grabbed her open maw and threw her to the ground again. Her hands now bleeding, she slammed her fist into Charoite's eyes, getting a pained snarl out of the beast as it rolled away.

"Get away from her!" Liddicoatite shouted, rushing towards Pegmatite.

Before she could come near her, she was intercepted by Dravite, who blocked her oncoming swing.

The two kids were about to make it to the exit, when they noticed Pyrite closing in on them. Without skipping a beat, Uvite grabbed the two kids and threw them as hard as she could up towards the opening in the ceiling. Taz and Steven looked down to see the small gem looking up at them, and then vanish as Pyrite's fist crushed her and her gem. Steven clenched his teeth at the sight, while Taz looked away. Their grief was then interrupted by the feeling of them losing their momentum. Uvite didn't throw them hard enough. They wouldn't make it to the opening. Suddenly, Taz's gem started to glow, and Steven felt himself feeling lighter. Taz was using her powers to make them fly out of the hole. Using all of her might, she propelled the two of them out of the hole. Pyrite glared up as she saw the two kids escape, then crouching and leaping up out of the hole.

"Follow her! Protect the children!" Tanza shouted.

Jasper and Fluorite knocked their opponent's aside and rushed out of the hole. The crystal trio were the first to leap out, followed by what remained of Elbaite's party, Topaz, Black Pearl, and Jet. Sardonyx was about to jump up after them, but she was stopped by Obsidian.

"I have an idea." Obsidian stated.

Outside, Lapis turned around to see the two kids falling out of the temple. She flew over to go catch them, but suddenly, a giant splash of ice and water appeared before her, halting her flight. Down below, Tourmaline and Chrome Tourmaline finally got out of the water. Tourmaline was cut up and panting, while Chrome Tourmaline was perfectly fine, save some cuts here and there. When the water fell down, all Lapis could see was Pyrite emerging out of the hole, an energy ball already charged up. In the next moment, Pyrite launched it, hitting Lapis point blank, knocking her out of the sky. She fell into the frozen dephs, and Pyrite landed in front of the children. Tourmaline looked across the newly made hole in the water to see Pyrite and the children.

"Steven! Taz!" He shouted.

Chrome Tourmaline rushed forward, punching Tourmaline in the stomach. On his arm, there was a silver and green band wrapped around his forearm.

"Pay attention rookie." He taunted.

With those words, a blade appeared from the band and impaled Tourmaline through the stomach. Blood leaked from Tourmaline's mouth, and he grabbed his doppleganger by the throat, and threw him off, the blade slipping out of his body with the toss. He rushed over to kick him away, but the green gem grabbed his leg and tossed him aside instead. The other gems landed behind them and saw the horrific event. They rushed forward, but Pyrite fired a barrage of black and silver energy at them, halting their progress. She then looked down at two kids and raised her foot.

"I'm tired of asking for things.".

She stomped her foot down, but Steven raised his shield up and Taz used all of her might to halt them being crushed. The two kids struggled under her heavy boot, but didn't stop pushing back. The other's desperately tried to get over to them, but Pyrite wouldn't let up her assault.

"Steven!" Pearl cried.

"Taz!" Tanza yelled out.

"Aw! Don't cry for them. They'll be getting a quick and merciful death in a few seconds. And once I pry the sphere from the girl's dead hands, Feldspar's plans will be able to proceed at an astronomical pace. And then I can have all the time in the world killing everything in this festering galaxy. Humans, gems, anything and everything will be at my nonexistent mercy!" Pyrite shouted out.

She started to laugh as she felt her foot slowly go down on the two kids, the two of them shouting as they felt Steven's shield pressing down on them, when suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her laughing stopped, she stopped pressing down on the kids, and then was quickly turned around and greeted with a ferocious punch. Her head flung back, and she felt a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. Everyone looked in the direction Pyrite was looking to see Chrysoberyl, standing tall with a steadfast look on her face. Pyrite scowled at the golem.

"Didn't think I would see you around." She growled.

"I had somethings to process." Chrysoberyl responded.

Steven's shield went away, and the two kids looked up to see the golden gem.

"Chrysoberyl! What are you doing here!?" Steven cried out.

Not answering them, she picked the two kids up and tossed them over to the rest of the group. Pearl and Tanza snatched Steven and Taz out of the air, holding them close and then looking back at the two giant gems.

"Don't you have Rose Quartz to find? After all, that's all you're good for." Pyrite taunted.

"Sorry, that's not in my programming anymore. I have a new objective in mind: eliminating you." Chrysoberyl stated.

Charoite and Liddicoatite appeared from the hole with Jasper and Fluorite, surrounding the crystal gems, ready to steal the lightning sphere back. The gems got ready to fight, while Tourmaline and Chrome Tourmaline looked on at the scene with opposing feelings. Tourmaline was astonished to see Chrysoberyl on the battlefield, while Chrome Tourmaline had his hands on his hips and was chuckling at the sight.

"Well if it ain't your cavalry." He joked.

Before anyone else could say anything, the wall of the glacial temple was broken down by something. From the dust and rubble emerged a giant fusion. Herlong, greyish brown dreads fell across her face and shoulders, her eyes were like burning wood, and her body was massive. She was almost as tall as Sugilite, and had the same body as hers. Her top was covered by what could be described as the top of a greek dress that was torn at the midriff, and her pants were knee length, loose shorts. From her stomach and forehead gem, there were cracks of Turquoise, green and cyan on her skin. She also wore bangles that glew like a bright, roaring flame, and was barefoot.

"Obsidian...and Sardonyx must have fused!" Jet cheered.

The giant woman rolled her two arms back in a way of loosening up her joints.

"I know this appearance isn't as grand as I anticipated but at least it's impact is still grand." The giant fusion boasted, "As introductions are in order, my name is Boulder Opal but we can keep it simple and you can refer to me as Bo.".

Pyrite grit her teeth and her muscles started to swell. She launched a ball of energy at Bo's face, causing a large explosion.

"You think that one fusion will make me turn my tail and run!? I'll just crush all of these small worms before moving onto you!" She shouted.

The smoke cleared away from her face, revealing her cocky smile to be pursed into an irritated frown.

"Well someone's got some pretty big chops if you think I'm going to let you go away first." She threatened.

With that, her two gems glowed and summoned her weapons. The club from Sardonyx and the hammer from Obsidian melded together and formed two massive macuahuitls. The serrated brown swords were studded with Obsidian chunks, and had cracks on the blade's similar to the one's on her face and stomach.

"Burn...burn...slash...burn." She chanted to herself.

With that, vibrant flames emerged from the cracks on the sword, engulfing her arms, cloaking her in a field of vivid and vibrant colors.

"Plenty of time to just run." She offered.

Pyrite and Chrome Tourmaline began to swell up with power.

"No dice you big bitch! Looks like we got a new mission girls! Id est, laying all of these stupid weaklings across this glacier! Jasper! Fluorite! Destroy!" Chrome Tourmaline shouted out.

"Let's get what's rightfully ours!" Liddicoatite shouted, with Charoite roaring out with her.

Suddenly, a giant pillar of water appeared, with Lapis inside of it. She recovered from Pyrite's blast, and was ready to attack.

"You're all finally out." Lapis declared.

"Lapis!" Steven cheered.

Two giant arms appeared from the water, and everyone charged at each other.

"Round two boy!" Chrome Tourmaline shouted.

The two boys rushed at each other and started delivering a flurry of punches and kicks at each other. Jasper and Fluorite charged forward, and Chrysoberyl rushed over to Pyrite. Garnet and Bo rushed over to Pyrite. Lapis swung one arm towards Pyrite, only for it to be punched away. Luckily, Chrysoberyl managed to punch her away with Garnet catching her on the follow up. Pearl, Dravite and Tanza held Jasper in place while Jet, Amethyst and Topaz distracted Fluorite. Black Pearl leaped in the air over Jasper and thrust her limb between Jasper's shoulder pads. The orange gem reeled in pain, and turned around to face Black Pearl. Unbeknownst to her, the little gem put a thread inside of her.

"Hold her down!" Black Pearl shouted.

Pearl stabbed her in the leg, and Dravite put her in a full nelson. Jasper yelled out in pain, but she managed to toss the two of them off. Black Pearl dashed around her, and twisted her thread around in a twirling motion. Deep inside of Jasper, she could feel it wrapping around that twisted device Fledspar implanted in her. With a solid yank, the chip was ripped from her neck, and Jasper stopped thrashing about.

"Got ya." Black Pearl said proudly.

Jasper's wrathful gaze faded into a tired expression. She collapsed to the ground, face first in the snow. Before the rest of them could turn around, Tourmaline was flung into them, knocking them all aside. Tourmaline caught himself on the ice, and went into a crouching position facing Chrome Tourmaline. He gnashed his teeth at his opponent with a vicious scowl. He could feel something start to well up inside of him. He was getting mad. He charged forward and kicked at Chrome Tourmaline, crushing his guard and launching him back at the temple. The clone bounded against the ice and slammed into the stone wall of the temple, cracking it. Chrome Tourmaline smiled and wrenched himself off of the wall, charging towards Tourmaline with his braces glowing green. He launched a few slashes of green energy at Tourmaline but the nimble gem dodged the attacks, though they ended up hitting Lapis's pillar, making it harder for her to see due to the large blasts.

In the midst of this chaos, Steven and Taz rushed away from the fight to get the lightning sphere away from Pyrite. However, they were cut off by Charoite. Steven raised his shield to defend Taz, but before the two kids could process it, Charoite launched out her tongue at an insanely fast speed, wrapping it around the orb and yanking it out of Taz's hands. The monster sucked it into her mouth and rushed away towards the warp pad. Liddicoatite looked away from Elbaite and Dravite to see her friend escaping. Bo looked away from Pyrite and saw the cat rushing away. She swung one of her blades towards the cat, hurling it towards it with the vibrant flames filling the air, coming down on the icy landscape like a thunderstorm of flames. The blade was now hovering over Charoite, slowly picking up speed to overtake her, but the nimble cat dodged each blast of flame that came towards her. Liddicoatite threw both of her tomahawks at her opponents. In their confusion blocking the bold, rushed attack, the strawberry gem was already ahead of the team, rushing after Charoite.

"We win! You can keep whatever slag is left here!" Liddicoatite shouted.

Lapis noticed the fleeing gem and reached out with one of her water arms to grab her. Pyrite took notice of this attempt and elbowed Chrysoberyl in the face to give her a few seconds to charge up another ball of silver, unloading it at the giant arm. With a series of explosions, the arm splashed all over the battlefield. Bo bent over to crush Pyrite with her fist, but the giant silver gem leaped out of the way. The gargantuan gem's fist went straight through the ice, causing a large chunk to protrude upwards, slamming into Pyrite's back. Not taking a chance to leave herself open, the villainous gem unleashed another volley of balls at Bo. Several explosions littered various parts of her body, but the damage done was minimal. Pyrite took the opportunity to roll over the ledge, but ended up surrounded by the crystal gems again.

Steven and Taz rushed back to help their friends.

"I think it's best we go help Tourmaline! He can do a lot more for the group against her, and because the other guy seems a lot weaker in comparison." Taz suggested.

"Sounds good! We just gotta get Chrome Tourmaline to hold still and let Tourmaline hit him really hard!" Steven answered.

The two kids skirted out of the real battle's radius and rushed over to find Tourmaline and his clone still at each other's throats. As they closed in, Chrome Tourmaline dodged a punch from Tourmaline and then took the opportunity to slice off his opponent's arm. The kids looked on with shocked expressions, and ran faster than they already were towards the two. Chrome Tourmaline grimaced at Tourmaline.

"Are you kidding me!? You beat Pyrite...no...killed Pyrite, and you're still this weak!? How is that possible!?" He taunted.

The deep green gem swung at Tourmaline's head, but Tourmaline ducked underneath the attack. He roared out in pain as a new arm regenerated from his open wound. The newly grown arm gripped his rival's jacket, and Tourmaline yanked him down towards him. He greeted him halfway with a headbutt and then a solid kick to the stomach, followed by an energy ball at point blank range. The blast burst and Chrome Tourmaline fell back on his butt.

"With tricks like that!" He shouted back.

Chrome Tourmaline then bounced back up and rushed at him with his gauntlet read to impale, but the blow was blocked by Steven's shield. There was a loud boom, and Chrome Tourmaline felt his entire body shake from the impact. He pulled his fist back, and he now felt like he was frozen solid. Taz used her powers to hold him still.

"Tourmaline! Now!" Taz shouted.

Tourmaline stepped over Steven and nailed the trapped foe with a barrage of kicks, ending with one powerful roundhouse kick, the blade piercing his temple, and sending him across the ice. Taz fell on her face from exhaustion, and Tourmaline quickly rushed over to the poor girl and lifted her up. Taz looked up to him and smiled.

"Don't pick me up." She teased.

Tourmaline smiled back and placed her back on the ground. Chrome Tourmaline got back up on his feet and scowled at him.

"Stupid kids. Make them get out of the way so we can-".

He was grabbed by Lapis, and the blue gem tossed him away from the battle and sent him hurtling towards the warp pad. Tourmaline smirked and looked back at the two kids.

"Why aren't you helping out the rest of the group?" He asked.

"We thought we could help you take care of him fast so you can come help us as well." Steven stated.

Tourmaline looked back over at the battlefield to see all the gems swarming around Pyrite, but Lapis and Bo were doing minimal acts.

"Why are they holding back?" He asked.

"Probably to not hurt anyone else. So we gotta separate them so we can let Lapis and Bo take her down!" Steven declared.

Tourmaline scratched his head to think of a potential idea. He looked back down at Steven, and his shield. He thought of the intense impact that shield can cause...and he got his idea.

"Steven. I need you to prep your shield to face Pyrite." He said.

Steven smiled and raised his shield in determination.

"You got it! I'll cover you while you rush in." Steven declared.

"And for me.".

Steven's smile turned into a curious expression.

"Wait what?".

Tourmaline grabbed Steven and then threw him straight up into the air. The young boy screamed as he flew up higher into the sky. Everyone stopped fighting to see the odd display. Pearl and Amethyt's jaws dropped in shock and horror at the sight of him being tossed up, with Tourmaline following him up there.

"What is he doing!?" Pearl screamed out.

Steven's acceleration finally stopped, and Tourmaline met him up in the air.

"Raise your shield up and make sure you hit Pyrite shield first!" He ordered.

Steven nodded his head, left no choice but to follow the insane order. Tourmaline twirled quickly and kicked Steven's shield as hard as he could. The resulting boom made a thunderclap sound like a pin dropping on a wooden floor. Steven screamed through the air like a bullet, his shield held in front of him as he braced himself for impact. He burst through the pillar of water Lapis made, cutting through the cold water like a hot knife through butter. Before Pyrite could react, the young boy slammed into Pyrite's face, creating another loud boom. Her head flung backwards and she started to roll back from the impact. Pearl rushed over and snatched Steven out of the air before he could hit the ground. Tourmaline landed and ran towards the group. Pearl looked at Tourmaline with a vicious stare.

"How dare you put Steven in danger like that you reckless idiot! That kind of rashness could've gotten him killed! Are you crazy!?" She shouted.

Tourmaline ignored her and rushed over to Amethyst he reached out to her and grabbed her by her tank-top's strap. He threw her behind him, the small purple gem yelling out as she flew through the air, and then turned to Pearl. He grabbed her by hersash and the thin gem flew through the air with Steven still in her arms. Garnet looked on with a curious stare, but then realized his motive. She ran to meet with her comrades, with Jet following her. Fluorite, Black Pearl and Tanzanite looked on with confused stares. Topaz jumped onto Fluorite's back, jabbing one of his Sai's into her neck and ripping out the device in her. The giant gem growled in pain, but it faded into a tired cry as she felt her senses come back to her. The other two girls looked up to him and he greeted them with a determined scowl.

"Stop standing around and gawking at nothing and let's go!" He shouted.

"They nodded in agreement and rushed after the others, with Topaz swinging around Fluorite's body and lifting the passed out gem with his back and rushed after the others. Meanwhile, Jasper was finally coming back from her dizzy spell. She looked over to see Pyrite getting back on her feet, and then a giant grey hand coming at her face. Pegmatite scooped up the orange gem by her face as the rest of her friends ran ahead of her. The only gems that stayed behind were Bo, Lapis, and Chrysoberyl. Tourmaline looked back up at the giant gem and yelled up to her.

"Bo! We're all out of the fight! Go all out and crush her!" He shouted.

Bo grinned maliciously, and Lapis sent out numerous water arms towards Pyrite. The giant gem leaped out of the way of the numerous attacks, but while midair, Bo stepped in. Both of her swords were held together, and she swung at Pyrite with overwhelming force. Pyrite rolled over the thick blade, but the flames roasted her skin, nearly charring her to a crisp. She landed on the ground, injured but not incapacitated. She fired one more ball at Bo's face and made a mad dash for it. Chrysoberyl opened up her chest piece, revealing her gem that was now glowing like the sun. She pushed it out and a giant golden beam came out. The beam brushed past Bo's legs and hit Pyrite in the back, the blast bursting through her chest. She fell in front of the warm pad, now poofed. Bo reached down to pick her up, but Chrome Tourmaline appeared, launching the two blade's from his gauntlets towards Bo, hitting her in the eye. The great fusion cried out in pain, covering her face as she felt his blade's intense sting. He quickly grabbed the two stones and left with the warp pad. Bo stared back down at the now empty field and roared out in anger. She glowed brightly, and then suddenly poofed away, leaving Obsidian and Sardonyx laying out on the icy field. Obsidian got up to her feet and stomped on the ground.

"That's such bull crap! We had her! We...had...her!" She yelled out.

Tourmaline looked at her throw her tantrum and then turned back at the group. Pegmatite was holding both Jasper and Fluorite by their heads while the others stared at them. Jasper thrashed about while Fluorite just accepted her fate. She was tired and knew it was pointless to struggle.

"Let me go you traitorous scum!" Jasper shouted.

"Sorry. You're in our custody now." Elbaite stated.

"So you're just going to put us in a bubble again!?" The orange gem shouted.

Garnet stepped forward.

"No. You're going to help us take down Feldspar." She declared.

Jasper glared at her.

"Oh. So you need me to fight your battles for you?" She asked.

Topaz stood next to Garnet.

"No, it's going to be your battle soon enough. If we don't stop Feldspar soon, she's probably going to overpower use and kill everything on this planet." Topaz stated.

Jasper rolled her eyes.

"And your point is?".

"My point is is that after she's done doing that, she's going to use the Earth to harvest gems and make an army powerful enough to take over the galaxy, meaning that she's going to go after the Homeworld next." Topaz explained.

Jasper stared at him deadpan.

"Well I guess my hands are tied. But after this is done...we will go back to war." She promised.

"No we won't." Topaz promised.

Pegmatite dropped the two of them and the two gems rubbed the back of their necks.

"So what's the plan now?" Fluorite asked.

Tourmaline reunited with the group.

"Well since we're now at a somewhat significant disadvantage, I say we gotta go hard. Our fusions have been a clutch save for each battle, but it's bad that we're depending on a few pairs for it to happen. So while Feldspar is doing her own thing, we need to focus on finding out what fusions we can do, and which ones are the most powerful. The sooner we learn about them, and can bring them out at any time, the better the chance we have against whatever Feldspar has in store for us." Pearl declared.

Garnet frowned at the idea of using fusion in such a way, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Jasper on the other hand rolled her eyes at the idea.

"Such an archaic and poor strategy. Fusion is nothing but a cheap and desperate tactic." Jasper scoffed.

"Which is why you fused with Lapis to beat us. And I guess those shock sticks are noble and fair." Tourmaline joked.

Jasper glared down at the small, smug gem.

"Let it be known you're not in the position to back talk." Topaz jabbed.

Jasper glared back at Topaz and then looked away from his cocky smile.

"_I'm going to die surrounded by clods._" She thought.

"We should start tomorrow. I...don't think now's the best time." Dravite suggested.

The others looked towards the big brown gem.

"Why's that?" Pearl asked.

"It's just that...Uvite's dead.".

The group fell silent. Elbaite clenched her arm and looked away. Pegmatite hanged her head low. The kids already knew, so they went over to comfort the late Uvite's friends. Tourmaline just clenched his fists in anger. He was still coming down from his rage against Chrome Tourmaline, but now the kindled anger came back in a blazing inferno.

"_Pyrite…"_ He seethed in his mind.

/**/

Liddicoatite, Chrome Tourmaline and Charoite stood before Feldspar with the spoils of the battle and Pyrite's gems. Feldspar smiled as she grabbed the stone.

"I'm so sorry for the loss of Jasper and Fluorite along with the near death of Pyrite! I accept full responsibility for this mission's failures." Liddicoatite declared.

"Nonsense dear. Pyrite is still intact and the two sacrifices you made were insignificant compared to beasts I am going to create and breed. Now put Pyrite some place safe, and lead Charoite to her personal quarters." Feldspar ordered.

Liddicoatite bowed to her master, and left with Charoite. Chrome Tourmaline stared at Feldspar, expecting her to say something.

"You can go too. Your first outing was satisfactory and I need to focus on my work." She stated.

He shrugged and walked away, off to explore the facility. Feldspar turned around and walked towards a door. It opened up automatically, and she had entered the generator room. The main source of power for her lab, a giant cylinder with a pyramidal base and top, was glowing a faint green. She pushed a few buttons on it's light blue control panel, and it opened up. She had fashioned an old ship's battery to run it, but now it was obsolete. She ripped it out of the source, cutting all power for a second, and then placed the lightning sphere inside. Suddenly, the generator glowed bright blue and the entire place had power again. She pressed another button, and then it closed up once more.

"Very nice. No longer need to worry about that." She said to herself.

She left the generator room and walked all the way to the genetics lab. She walked past tube after tube and eventually saw Peridot. The tiny gem was nothing without her limb enhancers, so she was put to work as her assistant, like old times. Feldspar walked up to her and smiled.

"How are the prototypes looking?" She asked.

"Prototypes one through twelve are ready to be deployed, while the rest should be ready for deployment in a week at the most." Peridot stated.

"Excellent. I don't have too much to worry about now and can focus on making sure this is a success. Now...tell me more about the cluster." Feldspar asked.

/**/

The gems arrived home and Tourmaline immediately stormed off to the recesses of the temple. Taz, Tanza and Jet looked back and took a few steps to go after him but Obsidian blocked them with her arm.

"Leave him. He's processing a lot right now." She said.

"I know he feels angry, I do too, but shouldn't he be here with us?" Elbaite asked.

Garnet walked ahead of the group and into the living room, with Topaz and Dravite following her. Pearl walked next to Elbaite and put her hand on the smaller gem's shoulder.

"Tourmaline's best friends were shattered by Pyrite. I think that might have brought up some bad memories." Pearl explained.

"Oh...alright." Elbaite answered.

Jasper looked at the two of them and frowned. She knew the consequences of war, and she prayed that she didn't have to see it ever again. She walked over towards Garnet, and the rest of the group. Fluorite looked up to see Heliodor tied up against the ceiling. As morbid as the situation was, she couldn't help but laugh at her situation. The others glared back at her but then realized she was just giggling at her friend being taped up hanging over their kitchen.

"Well I'm glad you got some people out of it, but did you get the lightning sphere? Or Iolite?" Heliodor asked.

Black Pearl looked up at her.

"No, and Iolite wasn't even there." She answered.

"That's crappy." She commented.

Topaz jumped up and cut her down. The yellow gem flailed about in the air and slammed face first onto the kitchen floor. Black Pearl glared at Topaz for doing that.

"Why would you let her go!?" She shouted.

"Because as I said earlier, we need all the help we can get. So she's coming in to help us now." Topaz argued.

"Is she even going to listen?" Pearl asked.

Heliodor got up to her feet and shook her head.

"I'll help. I'm not staying behind here while my loved one is being brainwashed by some freak." She declared.

"And because she's going to attack the Homeworld next." Jasper added.

Talc leaned over the edge of Steven's bed and looked down at the gems. He scanned the crowd and saw that Rubellite and Uvite were missing. He didn't want to ask, as he was able to just guess what had happened.

Suddenly, Rubellite's gem started to glow. It floated out of Steven's pocket and hovered next to him. It quickly reformed into Rubellite, and the pink gem landed on her feet once the regeneration was complete. Pegmatite bellowed out in happiness and rushed over to her. She clutched the tiny gem in her giant arms and held her tightly.

"Hi I'm glad I'm back too!" She joked.

The giant grey gem let her friend down and she looked over at the group. She scanned around to look to see that everyone was accounted for, but Uvite was missing.

"Where's Uvite?" She asked.

/**/

Tourmaline was gritting his teeth as he stomped throughout the the halls of the temple. He slammed his hand into the wall and was dragging his nails against the wall, cutting stone off of the wall as he walked forward. He walked back his old room, and he glared down at the caved in place. He seethed in anger as he looked at it. He punched a rock, it shattering to dust from the impact, and he started to get more riled up. He felt his muscles swell up, and his eyes flush emerald green.

"Py...rite!" He growled.

/**/

The group was circled around the couch area. Rubellite heard the downlow about Uvite's death, and she was angry. She was ready to avenge her friend's death. Garnet glanced away from the group and looked over to the door. While the others were discussing different ways they could practice fusion, the tall gem had a sudden feeling of an uneasy premonition. Her future vision was giving her a warning, but she found it a little hard to believe. Not all of her visions have been correct after all. She looked away from the door, and suddenly there was a crashing boom. All the gems looked to see Tourmaline smash through the door, his grieves out and a vicious expression on his face. He jumped up to Garnet and tackled her through the house's screen door and through the railing outside. The other gems quickly got up and rushed outside to see what the commotion was about. Tourmaline was swinging at Garnet, who had summoned her gauntlets to block his attacks.

"Tourmaline! What has gotten into you!?" She shouted.

Tourmaline growled in response, and his leg began to glow. He kicked at Garnet, but the giant gem ducked under his kick and the force of green energy that came from it. The blast hit a wall of plateau, creating a massive explosion. The gems stared at the blast in awe. It was the biggest blast they've ever seen him make so fast. Chrysoberyl, not wanting to stay still anymore, leaped down towards the fight and punched Tourmaline in the head, sending him skidding across the sand and into the ocean. The two tall gems looked at his path of destruction, but were shocked to see him standing up on the water, grimacing and glowing green. The others looked on at the scene with mixed emotions. Jet, Obsidian, Sardonyx, Topaz, and Elbaite's group stared on with confused expressions while Tanza, Taz's, Amethyst's and Pearl's expressions were of terror.

"What's wrong with him!? Why is he acting like this!?" Jet asked.

"We've seen him act like this before." Pearl said chillingly.

The rest of the gems rushed down to the beach to help out their friends, and Tourmaline rushed forward. The water around him splashing in great white walls of foam as he rushed towards the others. He kicked at Chrysoberyl, knocking the giant gem backwards while Garnet got between the two of them. She blocked his attacks, trying her best to wear him down.

"Tourmaline! That's...e...nough!" She shouted as she finally punched him.

The impact was great, knocking the boy back and bounding back into the water. He laid in the shallow end for a second, and looked up. His nose was smashed and there was a stream of green blood coming down his face. His eyes were still emerald green. Garnet looked at her fist to see it stained with his blood, and she looked back at Tourmaline.

"That was an accident." She stated.

Tourmaline started to growl and swell up in size. The others looked on in terror. He got up to his feet, and yelled out in what could be assumed to be pain. His body turned to light, and it started to slowly grow. Garnet, and the others looked on in terror. Flashbacks of what a horrible beast he once was were coming back to them. Pearl gripped her stomach and started to shake with fear.

"_No...not again…_" She thought to herself.

Steven and Taz rushed forward in front of the group to confront the steadily growing Tourmaline.

"Tourmaline stop it! You can't go back to being like him!" Taz cried out.

He continued to grow.

"Stop! This isn't who you are!" Steven added.

"Listen to them Tourmaline!" Garnet shouted.

He stopped growing.

"This isn't the person your friends died for!" Taz shouted.

"STOOOOP!" Steven shouted.

He began to shrivel in size, the light dissipating from his body and he eventually returned to his normal self, and fell face first on the ground. Steven, Taz and Tanza rushed over to him.

"Tourmaline!" Tanza cried out.

She rolled him over and looked at his face. His eyes slowly opened up and they were still green. She scooped him up in her arms and lifted him up. She held him close and walked back to the house. Obsidian stepped in and got in Tanza's way.

"What the hell was that!?" She asked.

Tanza looked up to her with a terrifying glare. Obsidian's worried expression turned to one of fear.

"Do not...ask him...what that was." Tanza seethed.

She walked around Obsidian and then moved back into the home. Jet walked over to Pearl.

"Is...what was that?".

Pearl didn't look at her.

"A part of Tourmaline we hoped had died a long time ago." She stated.

She walked away, and the others followed her. Topaz stopped Garnet and looked up to her.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me what the hell just happened." He demanded.

Garnet looked down at the angered gem and sighed.

"A long time ago, Jade's gem embedded himself in Tourmaline's being in a way to take over him. At first, it corrupted him, but once the gem had been healed, he instead turned into a forced fusion, Emerald. We freed him from it, but now it seems like that part of him hasn't left." Garnet explained, and then started to walk away, "We need to stop this cycle of violence. It's starting to become too much for him.".

Topaz looked at the green spatter on the ground, and then back to the house. He started to feel a little guilty. He felt like his teachings have lead his student on a path to destruction.


	35. Chapter 35: The Ancient One

Polished Gems #35: The Ancient One

It was the morning after Tourmaline's episode. Garnet, Obsidian and Jasper were grouped up while the other gems had gone out to train in the art of fusion. It was their only option to match up against the power that Feldspar had to command, so they had to act quick and come up with a plan. Jasper and Obsidian stayed behind due to the former objecting to the idea of fusion while the latter saying she wished to wait for when Tourmaline would eventually come out of the temple since she already mastered the art. Once he was back inside of the house, he was oddly silent. He refused to speak with anyone and just walked into the temple. He wasn't even in his shared chambers. He hid himself away from everyone. The gems remained silent and just sat around the warp pad.

"So...what do you think of this mudball?" Jasper asked.

"It's surprisingly nice. A lot to do, various species are unique, and as you have seen, it's always exciting." The black gem answered.

"Tch, course it is." She scoffed.

Garnet was silent. Her eyes fixated on the door. She knew he would come out sometime today, she just had to be there when he did. Jasper and Obsidian continued their conversation but then the door opened. Obsidian's focus on Jasper was broken as she immediately turned her head to see the boy walking out of the temple. He was stone faced as he stepped towards the warp pad. Garnet got up and got between him and the warp pad. He stopped walking and looked up to her concerned expression.

"Tourmaline...can you explain what happened last night?" She requested.

He squinted his eyes as he scowled at her.

"No.".

He walked around her and onto the warp pad.

"Oh! We're training for fusion today. It's over at-" Obsidian started.

Tourmaline warped away mid sentence. Obsidian frowned and averted her eyes.

"Is he always like this?" Jasper asked.

Garnet looked at Jasper.

"No. This is extremely strange.".

"I think he's just losing it." Obsidian suggested.

Garnet glared at Obsidian for even saying such a thing. But she couldn't deny the possibility. Tourmaline has been tortured by the very thought of Pyrite more than anyone. And now he might relapse into Emerald if last night was hinting at anything.

"If you're so worried about him, go follow him." Jasper ordered.

Obsidian nodded and stood up. She turned to Jasper and made her get up.

"You're coming with then. You aren't allowed to be alone in this house until we're certain that you are serious about being our ally." The giant gem declared.

The orange gem sighed and nodded in agreement. Garnet got on the warp pad with them, and the three gems were off.

"Any idea where he's gone?" Obsidian asked.

"Too many." Garnet responded.

/**/

Tourmaline warped over to the floating islands. He stepped off of the pad and looked around at the serene area. It was here where everything began. Where Pyrite had been reborn, and their war was declared. He heaved a sigh as he tried to maintain some form of calm, but the feeling of being so close to losing himself once more didn't leave him. Having his friends, no, his family stare at him with a sense of fear and worry hurt him more than Pyrite or Feldspar ever could. He frowned as he looked down at the clouds below him and wondered if things will ever be the same again. He sighed and sat down on the edge of the island and let his legs hang off the side. He tried to clear his head and think about happier times. After he had overcome his corruption as Emerald, the first time he became friends with the crystal gems, meeting everyone of his new allies, meeting...Ruby. It had been so long he really thought about her, or Sapphire and Tanzanite for that matter. They were always in the back of his mind and his heart, but he didn't really think about them in passing or when alone. It just made him angry, sad and feel like a failure. But he felt all three of those things anyway, so why bother not adding onto the pile? He groaned as he leaned back, but his head hit something fluffy. He went from thoughtless to alert in an instant and scrambled to turn around he nearly slipped off the cliffside. But his frantic action was pointless, as the potential threat was only Lion. He breathed out in relaxation and looked at the pink feline with a modest stare.

"Lion!? Geez man you scared me. What are you doing way out here?" He asked.

Lion blinked and laid down in response. Tourmaline shook his head.

"I don't know what I was expecting." The boy sighed.

Tourmaline turned his back to Lion and looked back down at the clouds. Lion crawled along the ground and stared down with him.

"You know...you managed to somehow figure out a way to save me way back when, but I feel like it was sort of delaying the inevitable. Do you...know if there's any idea of something that could stop this...stop me from hurting my friends, or a way that I can live normally without worrying about losing it?" Tourmaline asked.

Lion looked at the young boy and growled. Tourmaline looked at him and smiled a bit.

"I really wish I could understand you right now." He chuckled.

Lion looked back down at the clouds and hung a paw of the edge. It was like he was reaching out for something. Tourmaline looked down at the space as well.

"What do you think is down there? And why do I keep asking you questions when I know you won't answer them?".

Lion ignored him.

"I think I'm gonna go explore down there." He declared as he got up.

Lion stood up and looked as Tourmaline shapeshifted his arms into bird wings. He flapped them a few times and grinned.

"Lapis does this all the time. How hard can it be?" He joked.

Tourmaline looked at the large beast and smiled.

"Thanks for the talk Lion. If the girls ask where I am, you know where they can find me!" He declared.

With that, the boy leaped off of the side of the floating island and closed his wings together. He dived down like a hawk through the clouds, their moisture dampening his clothes and hair. Once he broke through the other side, he saw that he was above a gargantuan landscape. What looked like a field with giant holes, presumably where the now floating islands came from, and he spotted a forest that he assumed was some tens of miles away. He grinned as he opened his wings up and started to glide towards the dark green area. He gently glided downwards, occasionally dipping so that he could lose altitude. Eventually, he made it towards the forest. He was almost there, in a few seconds he would be in the canopy of the forest. He leaned his body backwards in an attempt to slow himself down for a landing, but he came in too hot and he lost his form. As he plummeted downwards, he morphed his wings back into his arms. He yelled out various obscenities and grunts &amp; groans of pain as he tore through branches and vines. He ended his landing by slamming into a boulder. Luckily he landed on his chest, so his gems were unharmed. He peeled himself off of the stone, various cuts, bruises and a black eye healing on their own.

"Well that felt...awesome." He groaned out.

He got to his feet and looked around to see that this forest wasn't a normal forest, but a swamp. He looked around to see various, small trees half submerged in brackish water. Lily Pads and algae decorated the water's surface, and he was standing on the only mildly dry area of the place.

"_Oh good it was just the ground. Much better answer to what that wet feeling on the back of your head was._" He thought to himself, "_Well at least this place got a bit more interesting._".

He gathered his senses and looked around. He decided to go north, as he saw the trees expand the most that way. He gently placed one foot on the water, and then the other. He then proceeded to walk along the water's surface, ready to explore this mysterious zone.

/**/

The Crystal Gems were practicing fusion at the arena in the sky. Pearl was practicing with Jet while Amethyst was working with Black Pearl while helping Dravite and Elbaite fuse. Tanza and Taz were trying their own variation of the fusion dance along with Rubellite and Pegmatite. The only ones that weren't practicing were Talc, Fluorite, Sardonyx, Heliodor, Topaz, Lapis Lazuli and Buergerite, the last of whom was tinkering with some sort of mechanism while Steven watched her. Chrysoberyl stood near the warp pad, observing the other gems. The group were trying their best, but they were in a funk. They couldn't shake off what happened to Tourmaline last night, and it was bothering them all. Tanza tried to twirl Taz around, but she messed up the step and the little gem fell over.

"Sorry Taz." She said as she crouched down to help her friend up.

"It's fine. Just...distracted I guess." The tiny girl stated.

A pillar of light formed from the warp pad, causing all of the gems to stop their activities to look over at it. From the light, out came Garnet, Jasper and Obsidian. Pearl and jet walked over to the trio, with the others following suit, save for Buergerite.

"Garnet, what are you doing here?" Pearl asked.

"Did you see Tourmaline?" Tanza asked.

Garnet sighed.

"Yes, but he warped somewhere before I could stop him.".

The group exchanged some somber expressions and then looked back to Garnet.

"We're going out to find him, just wanted to let you know." Obsidian stated.

"Any progress with...this." Jasper asked.

"So far no." Elbaite stated, "We almost had it a few times, but it's still a little complex.".

Jasper looked over to see the group of gems who decided to sit out on the exercise.

"And what about all of you?! If they're resorting to this garbage you should at least be putting in some form of effort as well." The orange gem shouted.

"I'll barely cause a change." Talc stated.

"I'm not doing this. No way, no how." Fluorite argued.

"I'm able to fuse with Obsidian fairly easily. I have enough experience with the art, so I'd rather let the others get in more practice." Sardonyx replied.

"If I'm fusing, its with Iolite." Heliodor said.

Lapis was silent, looking away from the brutish gem.

"I don't think we need to worry about the blue brat. Her powers are powerful enough on their own to merit sacrificing one of us just to get a bigger version of a gem that can control water." Topaz said.

Jasper glared at him.

"And what's your excuse?".

"Trust me, I know fusion.".

Buergerite let out an exasperated sound of satisfaction and she raised up an orb with her tendrils.

"Finally!" She proclaimed.

Steven was the first to run over and look at the strange thing.

"Woah! What is it?" He asked.

"Allow me to demonstrate. Gather 'round ladies, I'd like as many eyes as I can get for this." The cream gem declared.

The gems walked over to her with mixed looks of anticipation. They formed a crescent line so that all could gaze on Buergerite's invention.

"Finding Feldspar's whereabouts is without a doubt our top priority. But seeing as Garnet's future vision displays events that could happen, it could take weeks before she goes off the vision that is correct, and who knows what she could've made by then. That being said, it's no longer anything to worry abou-".

"Just do whatever you're doing already!" Jasper shouted.

Steven slapped the giant gem's leg and she glared down at the little boy.

"Don't be rude." He stated.

She scowled at him and then turned back to the engineer. The cream gem used her tendrils to carefully pull out a small cylinder from the ball. She let it go and it floated in the air. She turned her back on the group and walked towards the edge of the floating facility. She smirked and threw the ball as high as she could. It reached it's peak, and then quickly fell back down over the edge. Before it disappeared into the clouds below, the ball burst into a large group of small shards. These shards flew off in all sorts of different directions, some flying past the other gems, while the rest went in the opposite direction. Buergerite walked back towards the floating cylinder and she then tapped it with her tendril. It blinked blue for a second, and then it fired various projections of different aerial views.

"With this device, I can scour the entire planet in only a few days!" She claimed.

"A few days!? That's nuts!" Steven declared.

Each gem was looking at a different projection, and each one got a different sight. Lapis saw the drone flying over a vast field of flowers while Pearl saw one scouring the depths of the ocean.

"This is very impressive, but aren't they going a bit fast? I can barely make out what I'm looking at in some points." Pearl stated.

"Not to worry. The drones are simultaneously observing and recording everything they see. I can use the central key to look over their footage at a much more manageable speed once they're done recording. Even if one gets destroyed, all of its memory is backed up to the key." The cream gem said, "But I've also equipped them with a sensor designed to detect gem-like energy. If it senses something of the like within a one-hundred feet radius, it will slow down and search for the source.".

Tanza gasped.

"One of them is slowing down!" She stated.

All eyes were on the projection she was looking at. The drone was zipping through a flooded forest and stopped when it spotted Tourmaline from a distance.

"Hm. Looks like we found Tourmaline at least. Not exactly the result we're hoping for, but it's a good result nonetheless." Buergerite said.

The gems looked to see him smiling as he walked along the water.

"Funny, I don't recognize that place at all. How could he have warped there?" Pearl wondered.

"Well I can pinpoint where it has been on the globe using the central key. Just give me some time." Buergerite stated.

"Okay then, new plan." Jasper declared, "Anyone who isn't doing fusion, you're on watch duty.".

Topaz shrugged.

"I'm good with this.".

The others nodded and started observing the individual projections.

"Alright. We'll do our best with fusion!" Taz beamed.

Buergerite tapped a section of the key cylinder.

"Let's let this one be on its way to find something bigger." She stated.

/**/

Tourmaline walked along the wet path, curious as to what he may discover. So far, he was very bored. There were plants, and that was about it. There weren't any animals about, even fish. Either something was wrong, or he just so happened to discover what could possibly be the most pointless ecosystem ever imaginable. He heaved a sigh as he continued on. He was probably at the heart of the forest now, and there was still nothing interesting. He saw a shoreline and ran over to it, leaping off of the water and landing on the sandy shore.

"_Maybe there's something on land._" He decided.

He sprinted through the forest, leaping over stumps and crushing roots underfoot. He grew tired of taking his time, and just felt like running until he found something fascinating. For a few minutes, still nothing. He began to grow more irritable until he decided to run into a patch of vines. He leaped into them, grabbing one, and then swung straight up and into a rock ceiling. He swung back down and shook his head, dismounting from the vine. He brushed the vines aside and saw that this was a small cave that led downwards. He took a step back and saw that the entire top of the area was covered with moss so thick, the rocky area could've passed for a half cut down tree. The two trees that sandwiched the entrance were so close to it that it looked like the vines came from them and weren't an extension of the pile of vegetation above. Unless someone did what Tourmaline did, they would've easily missed it. So Tourmaline, desperate to find some action, walked into the cave and traversed downwards. He let his gems glow brightly and the cave was somewhat illuminated. He went deeper into the small space, but was then halted by a wall. He grimaced and stomped his foot down hard, causing the ground to crack. And then it cracked again. Before the young boy could react, the ground underneath him crumbled and he fell downwards. After a few moments, he slammed into the stone floor.

"_Really having bad luck today._" He thought.

Tourmaline got to his feet, and looked around his surroundings to see that he had fell some tens of feet downwards. He looked over and saw something mystifying. It was a giant carved mural of a gem. She was in a dignified, warrior like stance with jagged spires behind her. She had what appeared to be long, flowing hair, and a diamond shaped gemstone directly on her chest. Tourmaline couldn't put his finger on it, but this visage was familiar to him, but he couldn't understand why.

He looked behind him to see a gem who looked the exact same behind him, only this time there was what appeared to be a crudely drawn army of people rallied around her. Possibly other gems no doubt. As he looked up at the space, he suddenly heard a rock fall to the ground. He quickly turned around, but saw nothing among the stalagmites. The boy turned around, but couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He walked towards the south end of the massive chasm and discovered an underground lake. It more than likely connected back to the surface, so he decided to avoid going for a swim. He turned back and walked over to the north end of the room. Along the walls were portraits of this one gem. He couldn't put his finger on it, but this woman was all too familiar to him, and he couldn't shake the feeling.

His mind gained some sense of respite when he discovered in a small, crudely carved indentation in the wall that there was a glinting green gem. He jogged over to the piece and examined it. It looked like a broken shard of some kind, but he couldn't tell what type of stone it was. Staring down at this stone, he felt his instincts tell him that it was dangerous. He continued to stared, entranced by the stone. But suddenly, he heard the sound of stone being disturbed once again. He quickly turned around to see something in the darkness rushing towards him. Before he could call out to the noise, a sharp, dark green blade came towards him. He moved his head out of the way of the sharp blade, and then he was face to face with his assailant. Her skin was green, and he was staring into her eyes, which were as black as night. Her blade had pierced through the solid rock like it was sheet paper, not even leaving cracks around the entry point.

"An egg...must remain in its nest." She said in a calm, toneless voice.

She pulled her blade out of the wall and Tourmaline backed against the wall. The gem was a little smaller than Garnet and had a gem on her stomach in the shape of a diamond. Her hair was as black as her eyes, and it was tied up in a long ponytail. As she moved, he could see it swaying around her upper back. A black, large and square tank top covered her chest, most of her shoulders and half of her stomach, cutting off where her gem was. Around her stomach, black splotches like ink were spattered across her dark, jungle green skin. Her pants were loose fitting and black, cutting off halfway at the shin. Bright green stockings slightly obscured by her pants covered the rest of her skin, and for the last bit she wore forest green shoes. Black dots covered her arms in varying patches like someone haphazardly spraypainted them. Each part of her body seemed to have some bit of marking here and there save for her face. She had a fierce, yet serene expression on her face. The gem stared down Tourmaline who was increasingly becoming terrified of the stranger.

"Wha...who are you!?" He shouted.

The dark green gem raised her sword to Tourmaline and pointed it at him. It looked like a nodachi with a deep green blade &amp; a jagged black handle.

"A defender of her master. This is the sacred place where her greatness shall be reborn. Those who trespass during her reincarnation...will die!" She dictated.

She brought her sword to her side and then quickly slashed forward. Tourmaline leaped over the attack and over the intimidating gem. He landed a short distance away from her and looked back. The sickening feeling in his stomach from looking at the murals and stone intensified tenfold at the sight of her. He felt a headache coming on and he felt himself sweat. He temporarily snapped out of his trance to summon his grieves and defend himself. She rushed over to him and began slashing at him. Tourmaline dodged the first two attacks and kicked away the third strike, following his roundhouse with a back kick. The woman blocked the kick with her open palm and grabbed his foot, then throwing him aside. As he rolled along the jagged floor, she leaped towards him, flipping through the air. Tourmaline stopped himself, looked up, and saw her coming at him. He moved to the side but the force of the impact sent him rolling back again. He managed to get back to his feet and rushed at her. Tourmaline couldn't let her get the upperhand, she was too fast. Tourmaline punched at her head first, but she stepped out of the way. He began his onslaught of punches and kicks, but her defense was just as impressive as her offense. This only made Tourmaline panic more, and the pain in his head to grow.

"_Why is this happening? What is she doing to my head!?" _He shouted in his head.

His moment of weakness gave her an opening to counter attack, swinging her sword upwards. He felt it leave a shallow cut across his abdomen &amp; chest and took a step back. She swung her sword downwards but Tourmaline clasped the sword between his hands. He struggled to keep the sword where it was while his opponent slowly inched her way forward. She stared down at him with that same, terrifying gaze.

"Hm, you're surprisingly competent for a young wretch." She commented.

"Who...the hell are you!?" Tourmaline repeated.

She frowned at him.  
"Why bother asking? You won't live long enough to remember it." She threatened.

The blade slipped through his hands and slammed into his right shoulder. He yelled out in pain, but grabbed her by the arm with his right hand. He morphed his free hand to be clawed and then thrusted it towards her stomach. The mysterious woman grabbed his wrist and the two were stuck in another power struggle.

"Tell me...your god damned name!" The bleeding boy shouted.

She glared down at him. He was putting up a struggle, but it was nothing to her.

"You fight like a fool. So sloppy and unfocused. Why should I tell my name to some nobody that can barely hold his own?" She stated.

Tourmaline raised to his feet, moving the sword and her arm with it and then kicked her in the stomach, the blades on his shoe sliding down to the sole as he did so. The blade sunk into her flesh and she was knocked back a small ways. Her blade came with her, spilling a trail of his blood as she went back. She glared back at him and witnessed his regeneration taking effect.

"This nobody just made you bleed." He boasted.

She put her hand on her stomach and then looked at her blood. Her green hand was stained black. She looked back at Tourmaline, who was cautiously staring back at her.

"Impressive. Most of anyone wouldn't be able to get such a hit on me. I've grown a little...complacent since I've took my position guarding my master. In the past many gems and beings alike were cut down by my blade, but I don't think I have seen one with such a peculiar power. But again...you're nothing but an amatuer. You could have easily aimed for my head and ended this match, and now you're going to suffer for it." She announced.

"I have more powers than you think. Not only that, if all you can do is slice me up, I'll just heal it off." He rebutted.

"It's been awhile since I've actually had to earn a victory, so I just made a small mistake. And that healing of yours, how long can it keep up? Ten minutes? Five? How long do I have to keep cutting you before I make a permanent mark?" She asked.

Tourmaline smirked and went into his fighting stance.

"Not telling.".

"Fine. I'll find out either way.".

/**/

Garnet felt a headache coming on. Her future vision kicked in and she had a very unpleasant sight. A premonition of Tourmaline's demise, and it seemed to be very near. There was always a chance that her visions were wrong, but something in her gut told her that she shouldn't leave this one up to chance. She abandoned her post observing the various projections and walked towards the warp pad. Jasper noticed her leaving.

"Hrm, where you going?" She asked.

"I'm heading out to check on something. Pearl! Amethyst! Come with me!" She called out.

The two gems looked away from their trainees and rushed over to Garnet.

"Practice your form!" Pearl called out.

"Go with the flow!" Amethyst bellowed.

Steven moved away from his position and met up with the gems.

"Can I come too?" He asked.

Garnet looked down at him and given what she saw, they might need him.

"Sure, just stay safe.".

The boy's smile was wide and he rushed onto the warp pad. The three of them went off and the rest of the gems were in a bit of confusion.

"Well great. Stuck fumbling about like children." Elbaite complained.

"Ease up. If we stress ourselves out it'll only make the fusing process more complicated." Dravite stated.

Obsidian and Sardonyx looked at each other and then to Jasper.

"Is it alright if we let you survey on your own? We can step in in Pearl and Amethyst's places." Sardonyx requested.

"Ugh...fine." The orange gem relented.

"Thanks." Obsidian said.

The two large gems walked over to educate the groups and Jasper looked over to Buergerite.

"Will it be harder to spot any sort of action without their assistance?".

"A bit, but not by much. Just make keep an eye out for slow movement...like this!" She called out.

The gems' attention shifted to a singular display. The bot was in the sky and flying above what looked like a gem ship.

"What's this?" She asked.

"I recognize it. It's the ship that the Homeworld gems that attacked us came in." Topaz interjected.

Jasper looked over to the pale gem with a raised eyebrow.

"Homeworld gems?".

"Yeah. Led by Carnelian and apparently some group called the shattered gems came with them." He answered.

"Sheesh. At this point I'm surprised that Yellow Diamond hasn't sent in an army." Jasper said.

"Why bother with an entire squadron of nobodies when you can send in a strong platoon to get the job done more quickly and efficiently?" She asked.

Jasper gave him a questioning stare. She couldn't fault his logic, but she didn't feel like admitting she was right.

"Well it may not be the prize we were searching for, but it's still a good find. I'll let the little guy hook onto the ship and we'll leave it at that." Buergerite stated as she fiddled with the main controller.

"Alright ladies, back to the other projections." He said in a chipper tone.

As they went back to their own sections of windows, the bottom of the Homeworld ship seemed to have landed somewhere.

/**/

Carnelian and Chalcedony leaped out of the cockpit and walked across the front of the ship. Ametrine looked over at them from behind, still inside the ship.

"You sure you don't want us to come with?" She offered.

"After the skirmish that happened last time, no dice. We're here only for Feldspar and no one else. This is only a small reconnaissance run. That wretch can be hiding anywhere on or in this rock, and our readings show something faint in this crevice here." Carnelian explained.

Ametrine rolled her eyes and went back into the ship.

"Let's get this over with." Chalcedony pushed.

The two gems leaped down the hole and the two found themselves in a very large cavern.

The walls were eroded by time and various, naturally formed pillars of rock supported &amp; decorated the cave's interior. The two looked around as they traversed through the darkness.

"So...you want to talk about Topaz?" Chalcedony asked.

"No...I mean, it was just jarring to see him...alive, and completely different." She answered, "If I see him again I'd rather we just talk. It felt terrible to fight him.".

Chalcedony looked at her commander with sympathy.

"I understand...but you still need to know that he's now affiliated with the enemy." The blue gem stated.

"I can at least know why.".

The two continued on and saw nothing of interest as they went onwards. Chalcedony scanned the right side of the area and caught sight of an oddly shaped rock. It was completely spherical and nestled amongst a selection of misshapen and jagged rocks. She nudged her leader and pointed over to it. Carnelian nodded to her and they ran over to examine the space. The sky blue gem tossed aside the rocks that surrounded it and picked up the sphere to see that it was in fact a bubble. It felt like a bubble, but it was stained grey due to all the dust that had covered it over the years. She wiped the dust away to see that it contained a small bright blue and white green gemstone shaped like sphere.

"Interesting. You think it belongs to the Earth resistance?" Chalcedony asked.

"If so, why would it be sealed away and abandoned for so long? It makes little sense." Carnelian inquired.

Chalcedony looked back at the trapped gem.

"Well, how about we free it and see what they have to say? If it's a corrupted one, we can take it down before it can respond. And if not, we may gain a potential ally." She suggested.

"Hrm...well we don't have much to lose. Pop it." Carnelian ordered.

The blue gem slammed her fist against the bubble and it popped. She caught the orb as it fell from it's levitation and then placed it on the ground. The two looked at the stone intently, waiting to witness the stone's true form. A good thirty seconds passed and no reaction. Carnelian bent over and pushed the stone. It rolled a little bit, stopped, and gave no response. It was as still as a corpse. Carnelian looked back at Chalcedony and saw that she was equally confused.

"I don't understand." She stated.

"I don't either. Any gem would've regenerated by now. Something must have happened over the years to ruin it." Carnelian suggested.

The two looked at it for a few more seconds before deciding to move on. Chalcedony picked up the stone and held it in her hand. Best to keep it in sight in case something does happen. They continued on and noticed another dust colored bubble in a much more obvious spot. It was slightly floating above the area it would've remained hidden amongst the stones. Carnelian was the one to grab the stone first and inside was a tear-shaped dark green stone with blood red splotches all around it.

"Second time's the charm?" Chalcedony suggested.

"Sure. This one is a quartz at that, so we can gain quite the powerful ally." The red gem stated.

She popped the bubble, dust spraying everywhere but she managed to catch the gem before it fell. The stone immediately floated away from her hands and began to glow. The two of them stepped back and observed its rebirth. The form came first, and it was a bit above average for a quartz. Her hair came first, with was a long mane that reached past her shoulders. The dark light dispersed from her body and revealed the gem's form. Her skin was as dark as her base gem, which was embedded in her chest, flipped upside down now. She wore a dark blood orange v-neck vest. It was slightly small, as it failed to cover her would be naval. She also wore dark yellow green pants with black combat boots. She had red splotches all across her skin, as if she had walked past a splash zone at a slaughterhouse for a straight five minutes. Her face looked like she was bleeding from massive head trauma. She had a morbid, and vicious expression on her face as she opened her eyes. What would be whites were orange as the brightest flames, and her pupils were yellow and looked as though they were in the middle of mitosis.

Carnelian was a bit intimidated by the gem's appearance, but moved past this emotion and regained her composure. She confidently looked up at the mystery gem along with Chalcedony.

"Greetings. You've been imprisoned for a long time. My name is Carnelian and this is my assistant Chalcedony. Who are you, and who have you served?" She asked.

The great gem looked down to see the two, much smaller gems. She looked them up and down and noticed the insignia of Yellow Diamond, and she furrowed her brow and scowled.

"I refuse to give my name to a few puppets to a slag ruler." She growled in a deep, guttural tone.

Their eyes widened as the new gem said those offensive words to them. What kind of gem was she that she could insult Yellow Diamond as such? The two scowled at her and went into an offensive stance.

"Would you like to repeat that?" Chalcedony asked.

"I've said my piece. Now scurry off with your tails between your legs before I tear you apart." She threatened.

Carnelian drew her foil and Chalcedony summoned two boomerangs. Before the new gem could grab her weapon, the red gem stabbed her in the stomach. To her horror, she saw that only the tip of her foil was able to go into her. She pulled back and a small trickle of red blood trickled down from the wound. The two stepped backwards and glared at the great beast of a gem in front of them. However their enemy's steadfast, enraged stare waned after they backed up. Carnelian figured the stab did more damage than she assumed and got ready to charge back in.

"Oooh Yoo-hooooo!" A maniacal, voice called out.

The two gems looked to see the source of the voice. It was another gem, and judging from the stone on her arm, it was the other gem that refused to regenerate.

"Hiii!" She greeted.

Her torso &amp; shoulders were covered by a skin tight, dark blue wrap and she also wore a tattered skirt that went to her knees. On her right arm, there was a copper gauntlet with overlapping diamond etchings that housed the blue and green sphere Carnelian and Chalcedony ignored. The skirt was like a torn up sheet of bright blue bandages haphazardly sewn together, and then spattered with bright green paint. From the sides of her skirt, the bandages coiled around her legs and wrapped most of her feet up, with her toes still uncovered. The gem herself was a head smaller than the quartz that stood behind the pair of Homeworld gems, but she had proportions similar to an average woman, save for her grotesque face. Her hands were bony and her nails were like sky blue claws. Her skin was dark green and her nose was small and pointy. Her large mouth was shaped into a permanent smile with bright green lipstick lining it. Her eyes were rather small and sunken into her head, and were deeply disturbing. Midnight blue replaced her whites and pupils, leaving a burning green ring around where one pupil would be, and a bright orange ring around the other. Her hair was incredibly short, with no length on the back and barely any thickness. One half of her hair being night blue, and the other side dark a balance between the bright green splotch of her skirt and her skin.

"You ought not to do that, redhead." She warned.

Carnelian turned around to face the quartz while Chalcedony remained steadfast against the mystery gem. However, as the red gem moved, the wicked one quickly moved to her side, completely bypassing Chalcedony, who had just caught her advancement.

"Woah woah wait wait wait!" The weird gem warned, "Better listen to what I have to say hot stuff.".

She casually walked over to the giant gem who looked down upon her with a caring stare. Their eyes locked and in that moment, the years that had passed since they were sealed felt like yesterday.

"Why not attack them when you had the initiative? They're nothing but Yellow Diamond's filthy underlings." The quartz brought up.

Her friend tilted her head to the side and kept that permanent grin on her face.

"We haven't gotten a chance to stretch our limbs or speak to another for…" She looked away from her and to Carnelian and Chalcedony, "...pardon me what year is it?".

"Twenty-seven thousand, one hundred and fourteen." Chalcedony answered.

"Hrm...that's odd. When we went away it was year one hundred and ninety-six thousand, eight hundred and fifteen." The jester-like gem stated.

Chalcedony and Carnelian exchanged a glance and looked back to the strangers.

"Were you sealed away...in the ancient times?" Carnelian asked.

The weird gem tilted her head in confusion.

"You consider those the ancient times? The old bag you work for is at least twice as old as that!" She cackled.

She laughed maniacally and the two Homeworld gems were growing impatient. Suddenly, she stopped, raising a hand to barely cover her mouth.

"Where are my manners!? We haven't even done introductions." She bent her legs outwards and bowed her head, "My name is Azurite. And the lovable scamp behind me is Bloodstone.".

Bloodstone still scowled at the two gems.

"Uh, hello. I am Carnel-".

Azurite quickly stood up and her gem shone brightly. Blue and green bled into the different diamonds on her gauntlet. She raised her fist to the sky as her arm began to shine in a gorgeous shimmer of blue and green.

"I can feel it flowing through me once again. I've missed feeling so alive." She declared.

Carnelian and Chalcedony were on guard. They had no idea what they were capable of, and if they're in league, Bloodstone already established that they are no friend to their faction.

"Will you please come with us?" Chalcedony asked.

"Hmm...nah. We have much to see and if we're awake than that means it's probably time to go do some work with our third friend." Azurite stated.

Carnelian's patience was finally spent.

"Alright no. You two are coming with us. One way or the other." She threatened.

Azurite crossed her arms and scratched her chin. She was supposedly in deep thought, but her unchanging expression didn't allude to it.

"Hmmm...nah." She disagreed.

She thrust her arm forward and a massive cloud of night blue smoke burst from her stone. Carnelian and Chalcedony covered their eyes and began to cough. They didn't need to breathe, but the sensation of the smoke made it feel like acid was simultaneously being poured into their eyes and throats. They fanned the smoke away and saw that the two gems disappeared. They frantically looked around to see nothing but the blackness of the cave.

"Where did they go!?" Carnelian shouted.

"They vanished!".

"Impossible! A mere smoke cloud couldn't cause something like that to happen. And how could a gem as big as Bloodstone run away silently?" She brought up.

"If something like this is magic to you clods than the quality of gems being produced must have plummeted like an asteroid!" Azurite's voice echoed.

The two looked back to see the insane gem standing on the ceiling.

"My associate has already exited this miserable hole but I'd like to say one thing to you before I depart on my noble quest to avenge my master by shattering yours. If we meet again, or any of you Homeworld scum, we'll tear you to itty bitty pieces and ground your gems to dust...got it!?" She shouted, pointing at them with her gauntlet, "Write it down on your hands if you don't trust your heads! Ahahahahaha!".

Chalcedony grit her teeth and threw her boomerangs at her. Azurite swayed out of the way of the bladed projectiles. She then quickly danced away while she did an off key scat song.

The two rushed after her to catch up to her. Little did they know that Ametrine and the rest of her squadron were waiting to catch them off guard once they exit the hole. They saw the radiant ray of light from the crack in the ground they entered, leaped out of the dark cave, and it was as still as it was when they left. The two of them looked around and saw no signs of disturbance. Carnelian leaped onto the ship, peered into the cockpit and saw Ametrine staring right back at her.

"What are you doing just sitting around!?" She shouted.

"What crawled up your butt!?" Ametrine barked back.

"Because of your laziness, two rogue gems just escaped from us!" The enraged gem yelled.

Ametrine raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? I've been staring at the hole for the past two minutes and I saw nothing come out of there except for you two." She explained.

Carnelian's rage subsided and she looked back down to Chalcedony. Chalcedony hopped onto the ship and looked at her commander.

"This makes no sense. We just saw Azurite, and she managed to not only get away from us, but also went undetected as she exited the cave. It isn't possible!" The sky blue gem argued.

"I'm sure this will tide over. So long as we avoid them and let the Earth gems handle them, it should be fine. They're their problem now." Carnelian suggested, "But now, we move past this pit stop and continue the mission. And this time, all bubbled gems will stay as they are.".

Chalcedony nodded in agreement and phased into the ship with Carnelian following behind her.

"There's nothing of use here. Let's continue the search." Carnelian ordered.

Ametrine started the ship up and it slowly raised into the air with a loud, rumbling noise being emitted from its core.

"_This certainly was strange...but I'd like to know who exactly is their third friend._" Carnelian thought to herself.

/**/

The black and green gem slashed towards Tourmaline, but the boy dodged to the side and swept her legs. She jumped over but Tourmaline spun once again, this time raising his leg up to catch her mid-air. She blocked his bladed foot with her sword, but the impact was still enough to knock her away. She flipped and landed on her feet, gazing at Tourmaline with a newly kindled sense of determination.

"I have to admit, I'm starting to warm up to you. You're putting up quite the fight. That being said, I'm still a little unsatisfied." She taunted.

"Well I'll give you something that'll really blow your mind." Tourmaline offered.

His leg began to glow, he kicked forward, and a wave of green energy tore up the stone floor &amp; rushed towards his opponent. She did not even flinch from the sight of his attack. She held sword to the side as if it were in an invisible hilt, and then swung at the blast, slicing it in two. She smirked at the thought of his bewildered reaction, but as the blast dissipated, she saw no one. Her confident smile shifted to a startled frown. She looked up to see him coming down like a guillotine, ready to either crush or impale her. Tourmaline had a massive grin on his face as he came crashing down.

"Told you I'd blow your mind!" He shouted.

He landed with a loud crack. To his dismay, she disappeared. She had dodged his attack by inches, and she was right behind him.

"Again you missed your chance. Why are you so…" She growled, and then slashed his back, "...pathetic!?".

Tourmaline yelled out in pain. If he had a spine it would've been severed. The black and green gem twirled her sword around and was ready to thrust it downwards...towards his gem.

"Just die." She ordered.

Tourmaline could feel it. He was about to die. He isn't fast enough to stop it, he isn't strong enough to beat her, and he's all alone.

"_This can't be it...this can't be how I die. This bitch can't kill me...I...I will…_" He thought to himself, his mind escaping him.

She thrust her sword towards the back of his leg, but he quickly spun around and blocked the attack with his hand. The palm of his hand ran down the length of the blade and he grabbed the dazed gem's throat with his other hand. She could feel her throat being crushed and responded by kicking him back. As he flew back, she felt her throat. There were some light cuts on it. If she had reacted a second late, he would've torn her throat out. Tourmaline got up and grimaced at her. His eyes were flushed emerald green. The wound on his hand wasn't healing. He roared out and rushed towards her at blinding speed. He leaped up and kicked towards her head. She ducked out of the way, but couldn't dodge the follow up elbow to her head. She fell face first and skidded along the ground.

The mystery gem raised her body up to see the bottom of Tourmaline's shoe, blades sticking downwards. She started rolling as he started stomping onto the ground, cracking the stone as he marched on. The green black gem managed to roll onto her knees and slashed at Tourmaline's stomach. A thick green line formed along his gut, but he ignored the pain and grabbed her by the face. He lifted her up and slammed her back into the ground. As she bounded off of the jagged floor, he kicked her across the room. She bounded off the floor once more and landed on her feet. She was prepared to defend herself from the next attack, but he just saw him standing still, clutching his head in pain.

"_Stop...don't lose control! Don't lose control!" _He repeated in his mind.

Taking the opportunity, she rushed towards him and impaled him with a single strike. He felt that strike, as the green from his eyes bled out.

"Now I see. You're repressing your true self." She proclaimed.

"What...are you…" He groaned.

Before he could finish, she pulled her sword out of him, spilling blood over the floor, and then uppercutting him. Tourmaline was launched back a few feet and his opponent was standing idly, looking at her bloodsoaked blade. He slowly got back up to his feet as she began to speak again.

"You yearn to bathe in the blood of your enemies. Revel in carnage and pain. But your holding yourself back." She growled.

Tourmaline got to his feet, but bent over as he clutched his stomach wound. It's been awhile since he really bled out, and the pain he was ignoring a few seconds ago came back in full force.

"No...that's not who I am anymore!" He denied.

He stopped clutching his stomach and got back into his fighting stance.

"I am a guardian of my friends and family. I am a crystal gem!" He declared.

His opponent frowned and just shook her head. She then rushed forward, dragging her sword through the floor. The deep green blade now had speckles of black forming on it. Tourmaline leaped back to avoid the oncoming slash, but when she sliced it upwards, a fan of black energy emerged from it. He was engulfed by the blast and was badly burned by her surprise attack. He landed on the ground and she was already upon him. The pulsating blade swung at him and he tried his best to dodge or block her attacks, but the new aura of black around it made it so that each time he evaded the brunt of the strike, he was still left with some injury. He managed to bat her blade away and attempt to kick her away, but she pushed his leg aside and immediately punched him in the throat. He stumbled back and coughed from the strike. He was losing a lot of blood and gaining more damage as the fight went on. It was extremely difficult to maintain his form with all the damage he had, but he persisted to stay. She dashed forward and slashed at him, but he managed to muster the last of his strength and match her attack. His kick was strong enough to knock it out of her hands, but his gem suffered some damage from recoil. He had her defenseless, he just had to follow it up.

"_Yes! I did it!_" He thought.

He kicked forward, and in the mere seconds during his motion, she moved back, touched her gem. The blade that was flying through the air vanished, and she pulled it back from her stone. With all of her strength, she slashed the new blade in an upward arc, slicing clean through Tourmaline's leg...and his gem. Tourmaline's confident grin turned into a pained, horrified expression. She slashed at his chest in a downwards strike and he fell to the ground. He laid there, twitching with his form glitching out like a broken video game sprite. She stomped on his other gem and cracked it further. He couldn't even react to it. He felt nothing and pain fluctuating at such a rate nothing felt real. He could still see and hear, but just barely.

"This is what happens when a guardian fights a warrior. You're moral standards cost you your life, but you still managed to put up a good fight while you were your actual self, so I'll finally answer your question." She declared.

She held her sword over his gem. He looked at his leg and then up at the wall behind him, at the stone that started all of this, and then back to the face of the one who had defeated him.

"I'm Tsavorite." She stated.

Tsavorite raised her blade up a little more, got ready to strike downwards, but then suddenly looked over her shoulder. She noticed four shadows falling into her lair. She looked back to Tourmaline's pitiful state and chuckled a bit.

"Lucky you." She said.

The crystal gems saw the horrific scene and immediately rushed in to save Tourmaline. Pearl fired at Tsavorite with her spear but the ferocious gem slashed away each blast. She then grabbed the stone shard embedded in the wall and made a dash to a small junction in the cave.

"Oh no you don't!" An enraged Amethyst shouted.

She rolled towards her at blinding speed, leaping from her ball state and unleashing two whips. The first one was slashed away but the second one managed to wrap around her arm. Tsavorite quickly grabbed the whip and yanked Amethyst down to her level. The small purple gem fell towards her, and then was punched away. The green black gem yanked her other arm free from the whip and continued to run. Garnet fired her gauntlets at her, but she managed to clash her sword against it, then knocking them away. The fusion regenerated her arms, but Tsavorite managed to disappear into the darkness. There was a faint splashing noise, and they declared her lost. Steven rushed over to Tourmaline but his form burst before the boy could make it to him. He grabbed his cracked stone and immediately applied his healing spit to it. Pearl looked down to see his other stone, cut in half.

"Oh no…" She whispered.

The gems gathered around to see what was left of Tourmaline. Steven gave the cracked gem to Amethyst and grabbed the two pieces.

"Uh...Uh...Uh...I can fix this!" He said and licked the smooth ends of the gems and put them together.

He held them together and stared at them. The other gems looked at the stone with defeated expressions.

"Steven...I think it's too late." Pearl said.

"You don't know that!" He shouted, tears in his eyes.

He looked back at the stone, and there was a green light around cut. His stone was whole once more, and a wave of relief washed over the gems.

"That was too close." Pearl said.

"You got any idea who that gem was?" Amethyst asked Garnet.

"Not sure. I barely got a glimpse at her in the darkness." The tall gem said.

Steven smiled and hugged the stone.

"That doesn't matter right now. Let's just go home and put Tourmaline somewhere safe.".

Garnet grabbed the stone from Amethyst and picked up Steven.

"Yes, let's go home.".

The gems smiled, defeated that they couldn't capture the perpetrator who nearly killed Tourmaline, but they saved him. They still had their friend.


	36. Chapter 36: The Green Faction

Polished Gems Chapter 36: The Green Faction

Steven stared at the two green gemstones resting on a pillow on his window sill with Talc, Taz and Topaz. It had been a day since he had been poofed. The gems were busy with their other duties, the children staying to watch over Tourmaline and Topaz passing to do the same. Steven had to run back to the warp pad since all of the others got too grabby yesterday. Poor Tanza fainted when he showed her his cracked gem. But after some space was given, they were able to calmly approach him. Taz cuddled up next to a pillow while Topaz gazed at the stones across from the bed and Talc sat next to Taz on the floor. And to think today of all days he was going to surprise his friends with an outing to the barn with his father for a night to relax. Such a pleasant thing to come made his current situation all the more depressing. With their friend still in his personal cell, there's no way they could have a sweet moment without a sour taste in their mouths.

The front door swung open. Topaz glanced over his shoulder to see Greg looking up to him and the pale gem turned his attention to Steven.

"Steven. Your dad is here." He said.

"Oh." Steven said as he got up to his feet.

Topaz stepped aside as Steven ran down the stairs and down to his father. He gave him a big hug and the bearded man happily gave him one back. They stopped their embrace and Greg looked down at his boy.

"You doing alright kiddo?" He asked.

"Sort of." Steven admitted.

"Hey now, you got to him in time. He'll heal up like everyone else. Just give him a bit of time. Didn't he take a day to heal after a single crack on one stone last time?".

Steven smiled a bit.

"Yeah. I guess you got a point.".

"Don't worry about it. You and the gems have been stressed enough with this whole Feldspar situation. Speaking of which where are they?".

The warp pad activated, and from the light came Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Elbaite and Jasper. Amethyst was the first to rush over to Greg while the others calmly walked over to the two of them.

"Yo Greg! What's up?" The purple gem asked.

"Oh uh...well Steven and I were wondering if you and the other gems wanted to go out to the ol' barn for the night. You know...a break from everything since you guys have been working and been under stress." Greg offered.

Pearl smiled at his offer, but she knew now wasn't the time. Jasper just rolled her eyes and looked down at Greg, who was getting a bit uncomfortable.

"Greg...as much as we appreciate the offer, you need to understand that current circumstances take priority over others so-" Pearl explained.

"Of course we'll go." Garnet agreed.

All eyes were on her, some smiled, some were shocked, the rest were complacent.

"Garnet...you can't be serious! I mean what with the searching and the preparations that we have to go through and-".

Garnet placed a hand on Pearl's shoulder and gently shushed her.

"Buergerite's drones are doing a much better job searching for Feldspar than any of us could do on our own, even myself. And we're already making strides in fusion. Almost all of us can fuse now without any issue. It wouldn't hurt to take a day off." Their leader explained.

Pearl looked down at Steven and Amethyst's happy expressions and then smiled back to Garnet.

"Alright." She agreed.

She turned back to the three behind her to talk. Meanwhile Topaz was walking down the stairs holding Tourmaline's gemstones with Taz and Talc following him. Pearl moved away from the group and looked back to Garnet.

"I'll go get the others. You help Greg out if he needs it." The chipper gem stated.

Pearl ran to the warp pad, and Garnet felt Jasper's hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see her disapproving gaze.

"A word. In private." She demanded.

Garnet walked ahead of her and to the warp pad. She went behind the right wall and leaned against it. Jasper stood in front of her with her arms crossed.

"The pearl raised a very good point. We shouldn't be wasting our time with pointless debauchery when you could be training or doing anything to improve our chances of beating that insane wretch." Jasper declared.

"Funny. I don't remember you participating in our training." The fusion refuted.

Jasper scowled.

"That's besides the point. You all shouldn't be wasting your time with this childish act. The quartz child should be-".

Garnet moved away from the wall and got in Jasper's face.

"He isn't the quartz child! His name...is Steven. He has Rose Quartz's gem, he has her shield, but he isn't her. He's just a child, and someone like him shouldn't even experience what we have to face. But he knows the danger, he knows the risks of what can and might happen. He wants to do nothing but help us. The least we can do is something to make him happy.".

"And you think that something like this will distract him from what he has to face?".

"We all could use this distraction. Just one more night of being together...it might be our last for all we know.".

Jasper stared down at her with a skeptical yet thoughtful gaze. She gently pushed Garnet away and walked towards the front door.

"Fine. Have your happy night. Don't expect me to participate. I'll stay within surveillance distance so you don't have to be on your guard all night." The orange gem stated.

Garnet was quiet for a second, but caught Jasper off guard with her next statement before she left the house.

"You still don't trust us, do you?" She asked.

Jasper stopped in front of the door for a second, and then looked back at Garnet.

"What reasons do we have to trust each other?".

"Because we're allies. If I didn't trust you to help, I would've left you in a bubble. But I'm taking a chance with you because I know you want to do good.".

Jasper was again silent. She scowled once more and glared at Garnet.

"What do you care? As soon as this is all over, I'll be going back to the Homeworld, and we'll be enemies again. This isn't permanent." Jasper growled as she stormed out of the house.

Garnet heaved a sigh and shook her head.

"At least she had to think a little before saying that." She said to herself.

/**/

The sun was just setting as the gems were setting up camp at the old barn. Greg was setting up the pit as Obsidian and Garnet grabbed some logs to put around them. Talc and Amethyst unloaded the van as Steven and Taz went to hang out inside the barn, with Jet and Tanza going to find a place for Tourmaline's gems to rest without being disturbed. Elbaite's group were huddled up a ways away from the group. It'd been so busy they didn't have time to talk among each other, and there was much to talk about as well as grieve about. Jasper left the group to practice on her own, wandering away far enough to not be disturbed, but still remained close enough for the others to keep an eye on her. The other Homeworld gems merely observed the others, as Pearl was speaking with Black Pearl, Sardonyx and Lapis. Topaz sneaked onto the roof to be alone for a bit, and Chrysoberyl stood and observed each gems individual or group activity. She was particularly interested in the Homeworld gem's lack of interest.

Greg had finished making the bonfire and looked over to Garnet.

"All set?" He asked.

"Got enough seats for everyone." She answered.

Greg flashed her a smile and a thumbs up, and she gladly did the same for him. Greg looked around to observe the others. His attention was drawn to Elbaite's group first.

"What's their story?" The bearded man asked.

Garnet sighed.

"They were once loyal to Feldspar. But recent events have changed that. They've...we've lost a friend rather recently, and we've been so busy with prepping and training that I guess they haven't had the time to really take it all in. I suggest we let them be. If they want to talk to us about it, they will.".

Greg had an uncomfortable frown on his face. The mention of death among gems frightened him. Sure the gems were his friends, but the worry for his son overshadowed that a hundred-fold.

"Garnet...you think we should let Steven sit this bit out?" He asked.

"I want him to just as much as you do, but you know how stubborn he is. Even back when the Homeworld invaded long ago, he wanted to do nothing but help us. Now we're in a similar position, and he's going to stand his ground as always.", Garnet stated, and then placed a hand on Greg's shoulder, "But you need to know that any and all of us will willingly give our lives to protect him. I don't know what might happen, I don't know who might survive or not, but I guarantee you that he will be safe.".

Greg smiled warmly and nodded to Garnet.

"Yeah...you guys have been doing this for thousands of years. I'm sure things will be fine.".

Garnet wanted to be real with Greg, but she was praying that things would turn out fine as well.

Greg looked away from Garnet and pointed to Heliodor and Fluorite.

"So...what's their deal?" He asked.

In the farm, Taz and Steven were horsing around exploring the base, and Tanza found a crate where the pillow holding Tourmaline's gems could rest without being bothered. She carefully placed the pillow down and looked at the stones. They looked perfect, but yet he wasn't coming back. Jet was next to her looking at them as well.

"Don't you think we should just keep them with us? We could move the crate near the pit." The small grey gem suggested.

"I think it's for the best that we let him be alone. Nothing is going to happen to his stones here." Tanza said.

"If you believe so. Let's go back to the others." Jet said.

The tall purple gem nodded and began to walk out of the barn.

"Taz! We're going back to meet with the others!" She called out.

Taz and Steven stopped playing and rushed out to catch up with the two gems.

Pearl, Sardonyx and Lapis walked over to the pit as the other gems exited the barn.

"Garnet, have you seen Topaz?" Pearl asked, "Black Pearl went to find him.".

The tall fusion just shrugged.

Meanwhile on the roof, Topaz continued to gaze up at the dusk sky. Black Pearl quietly snuck onto the roof and observed him from a distance before calling out to him.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

He was silent, lost in his thoughts.

She continued to stare at him, slowly piecing together some sense of the scene. She moved back to the edge of the roof.

"The bonfire is ready to go whenever. Just letting you know." She said.

He ignored her and remained static. She hopped off the roof.

The gems were finally starting to get together as the sun slowly sank towards the orange sea. Everyone did their best to muster up good vibes, but Steven felt a little off as he looked at the two Homeworld gems intentionally staying out of their business. Steven walked away from the group and up to the two sulking gems.

"Why you guys being anti-social?" He asked.

Fluorite glared down at him.

"What's the point? What we have here isn't a permanent thing. Once Feldspar is dead, we'll be going back to our home, and we'll be enemies again." The red gem said bluntly.

"Sorry Steven. That's just how it is." Heliodor added.

Steven frowned a bit, but smiled again as a wonderful rebuttal popped into his head.

"Well we don't have to be enemies when this is over." The boy suggested.

"Are you saying that we should just abandon the Homeworld?" The yellow gem asked.

"Nothing like that! But we can still be friends. You guys aren't that different from the crystal gems. You fight for what you believe in and you care about your friends." Steven claimed.

The two looked at him with curious eyes. Heliodor was reminded of Iolite.

"All that matters to me and the crystal gems is that Earth is safe. We don't want to fight anyone anymore. We just want peace. Gems live for a very long time, so living with hate seems like a very poor way to spend all of that time. And even if you guys don't want to be friends after all of this...at least the time you spent with us won't be that much compared to the time away from us.".

Steven walked away after that last sentence. The two Homeworld gems looked at each other.

"You buying any of that?" Fluorite asked.

Heliodor averted her gaze, then slowly walked away from her ally.

"You really going to go over to them? They aren't anything to us. This is all just based around a very desperate compromise." The red gem stated.

Heliodor stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"We're not going to get anything out of staying alone and not talking to each other. If I'm going to die soon, I would like to at least have some happy memories of my time here. And if we survive all of this, I still want to have some happy memories." Heliodor stated.

She continued to walk towards the group. Obsidian lit the bonfire with her flame breath and the resulting blaze illuminated the gems. Fluorite sighed and went after her companion. Chrysoberyl in the meantime continued to observe the others, particularly interested in Steven's interactions with the Homeworld gems. She walked away from the camp and marched over to where Jasper was.

The large orange gem was practicing her form. Each punch &amp; kick were flawlessly executed. She summoned her helmet rolled into a ball and launched high up into the air. She spun in an odd orbit and charged back down to the ground. But as she charged down, her concentration was shattered as she saw Chrysoberyl staring at her, standing in her flight path. She broke her form and flipped to move out of the way. She missed the golden gem by a head and landed sloppily. She tripped over herself and fell to her knees. She growled and glared back at her intruder.

"What are you doing distracting me!? I made it perfectly clear that I wanted nothing to do with your kind so go back to your pathetic get together and leave me alone!" Jasper shouted as she got in Chrysoberyl's face.

"Are you cold?" The golem like gem asked.

Jasper's angered expression faded into a confused stare.

"What?".

"The dusk air. It is cold. Can't you feel it?".

Jasper backed off and scratched her head.

"I feel the wind, but it isn't that cold. Don't you feel it too?".

The golden gem lowered her head a bit.

"No.".

Jasper crossed her arms.

"Why are you here?".

Chrysoberyl looked into her eyes.

"You should join the others." She suggested.

The orange gem frowned.

"Did Garnet make you do this?".

The giant gem shook her head.

"Listen, I don't want to be with their kind. The gems of Earth betrayed their own thousands of years ago for...humans. We've slaughtered millions of other races on other planets to expand our reign. But no, they had to turn on all of that because a few gems were a little sympathetic of something so insignificant. I have no pity or sympathy for them. They may have brainwashed you, but I'm staying steadfast. They're just traitors that need to be forgotten or destroyed. I'm just with them because we have a common enemy that threatens us all. So take your pointless offerings somewhere else and leave me alone!" Jasper explained.

Chrysoberyl continued to stare at Jasper. She pried open her chest and exposed her gem to Jasper.

"Let me tell you something. I was made thousands of years ago during the war between the Homeworld and Earth. I was never like this, I was once as normal a gem as you. I wished to support the Homeworld so I volunteered for Feldspar's experimentation. She mutilated, contorted and reshaped my form to become nothing but a source of energy for this synthetic body. She forced her commands into my mind until all that whatever I once was became this, with the only goal in my mind being to kill Rose Quartz. I was shut down. Declared a failure as I could not properly function when battling other rebel units. I slept. I could do nothing but sleep, forced into a coma by my creator. Then...I was awoken by them. The Earth gems." Chrysoberyl said.

Jasper stared at the golem with mixed feelings of confusion and sympathy.

"I didn't ask for your life story. What's your point?" She asked.

"Ever since I interacted with them, I have learned much about life. About this planet. Over the weeks that I have been alive, I have grown fond of this planet. The gem I was designed to kill, I found that I agreed with her reasons for protecting the planet. Even those who have lived their lives away and on other colonies...they have found something to appreciate about this world. I can hardly feel like you...normal gems do. There is much that I still don't understand about this planet but I know enough to realize that it is worth fighting for. And I also know that these people only want peace. Yet it is under constant threat from people like Feldspar, or you." The gold gem continued.

Jasper was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She knew to stick to her duties as a quartz serving Yellow Diamond, but Chrysoberyl's monotone words bore into her skull like a power drill.

"I took a chance and learned the truth about this world. Why can't you?" She finished.

Chrysoberyl turned around and walked back towards the campfire. She didn't realize it as they spoke, but dusk turned to night. She stood still and reflected on what the construct said to her, but then she felt a chill run up her spine. The wind from earlier became frigid. She was cold and alone.

"_Maybe...it's for the best that I at least attempt to learn what they see in this mudball._" She thought to herself.

She started to walk towards the camp but stopped herself halfway.

"_Think Jasper think! They're just trying to get in your head so that when Homeworld eventually comes by, you can give them a little lee way so they don't get destroyed or captured. They're just manipulating you!_" She argued.

She turned around and started to walk back, but she stopped when she heard Heliodor and Fluorite laughing. The orange gem peeked over her shoulder to see Steven, Amethyst and Jet talking with her two allies. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Jasper grit her teeth in frustration. Her mind was filled with so many conflicting thoughts that she felt like there was a full scale nuclear war in her head. Finally, she relented, slowly treading up the hill towards the camp site.

"_Whatever. If they're sold on it then my word probably won't mean anything anyway._" She thought.

Jasper lumbered towards the campfire, defeated and ready to be a part of the group. The other gems looked at her, surprised to see that she had a change of heart. Steven especially. He ran up to the giant woman and guided her to a log.

"I'm so so glad you came! I can't believe it but you wanna be friends after all!" Steven claimed.

"Woah woah you are really stretching this for what it's worth kid." She protested.

Steven stopped and presented an empty seat. Jasper looked at it and saw that Garnet was sitting there as well. Jasper's expression turned unhappy. She sat down, crossed her arms and looked away from her rival. Garnet had a smirk on her face.

"Not a word from you fusion. Not. A. Word." She demanded.

Garnet nudged her arm.

"Glad to see you're really listening to me and the others." She said.

Jasper glared at Garnet. She started to twitch a bit. Greg felt very uncomfortable.

"Steven...isn't that the gem that uh...tried to steal you and the gems away during that invasion. And didn't she also headbutt you?" Greg asked.

"Yeah but that's all in the past. Right now we're buddies and we've gotta let her know that she is accepted in the group!" Steven declared as he picked up his ukulele, "So how about we give her a welcome duet?".

Jasper's attention shifted to the two humans and a sense of dread started to fill her being. Greg nodded in agreement and picked up his guitar.

"_No. Don't you dare do it._" She silently begged.

The two of them were tuning their instruments.

"_I'm a prisoner with no shackles. If I leave now they won't trust me and I'll become more of a liability than an ally._".

Father and son began to strum their respective strings.

"_A surprise attack. Pyrite falling from the sky and causing a massive explosion. A giant armada of Homeworld ships hellbent on putting my head on a stake anything to make them not do what they're about to do!"_ She screamed in her head.

Steven opened his mouth, Jasper braced for whatever mushy thing he was about to sing, but Steven's focus was broken when he noticed a green light coming from the barn. A wave of relief engulfed Jasper.

"_Oh thank the stars._".

Everyone got up from their seats and rushed into the barn. Tourmaline's gems floated up to the center of the barn and a human form of light started to appear. All of the gems eagerly awaited for Tourmaline to come back to them, but something odd happened. The neatly shaped form began to contort and glitch. The group's optimism turned into dread.

"What's happening?" Tanza asked.

"I think he's defusing." Garnet suggested.

As if on cue, the two stones separated and began to contort &amp; shift into different shapes. Then there was a burst of extremely bright light. Everyone shielded their eyes from its intensity, hearing two thuds without seeing the source of the sound. The light dimmed down to nothing, and the group looked to see Jade and Aquamarine getting up. The two of them looked at each other.

"It feels so odd to do this." The small blue gem stated.

"I know, but it's urgent that they know asap. There's only so much we can feed through Tourmaline's thoughts." The tall dark green gem said.

Before anyone could say anything, Pegmatite bellowed out in glee and charged through the crowd, knocking several gems out of the way and nearly trampling Jasper. Jade looked to see a giant wall of grey come charging towards him. The next thing he knew, he was caught in a giant bear hug. She nuzzled her giant head against his.

"Yes yes hi Pegmatite it's great to see you too. But you need to put me down and let me speak with the others now. I have dire information." Jade insisted.

Pegmatite nodded and set the man down. He walked towards the group with Aquamarine joining him by his side. Garnet stepped forward to meet him halfway.

"Jade? What's wrong?" The fusion asked.

"Everything's wrong right now Garnet. As if the Feldspar situation wasn't bad enough, we saw a ghost the other day." Jade declared.

Steven tilted his head in confusion.

"Ghost? We talking bed sheet boo stuff or the revenge kind?" He asked.

Half the group looked at him with confused stares while others chose to ignore him. Aquamarine was the only one truly acknowledging him.

"The revenge kind." She answered.

The pair walked forward and the others moved back to their original positions. Everyone took a seat while the two resurrected gems stood in the center of the camping circle.

"I thought that it was all over. They were dead, nothing was left of them but I can't believe of all the insane, twisted things in all the thousands of years I've lived, that I had to be wrong about this." Jade stated.

"What are you talking about Jade?" Lapis asked.

Jade's serious expression turned even more stern. He looked over to Garnet and the crystal gems.

"Garnet...you'll understand this the most. The gem that attacked Tourmaline...was Tsavorite." He admitted.

Garnet's eyes widened at the mention of that wretched name. She tightly gripped her arm as her body tensed up.

"To make matters worse, she has a shard of...of…" Aquamarine stammered.

"A shard of what?" Obsidian asked.

Aquamarine shook her head as the dark, all encompassing feelings of terror filled her entire being.

"A shard of Green Diamond's gem.".

There was silence among the gems. Garnet felt a bead of sweat form at her brow. A name she hadn't heard in many millenium, and now there's a chance that it could come back.

Suddenly, Jasper let out a loud chuckle.

"Are you serious!? Has your time cooped up in that boy's tiny body cracked your mind?!" She continued to laugh, "Everyone knows that there is and always has been only four perfect diamonds. Yellow, Blue, White and Pink Diamond. No Green Diamond.".

Jade punched the fire pit and let out a pillar of green flame.

"Shut it!" He shouted.

The orange quartz flinched at the display of strength. Jade seethed a bit, but Aquamarine grabbed his arm and he calmed himself.

"Sorry. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true." Jade stated.

Steven scratched his head.

"Wait I'm confused. Could you explain this whole Green Diamond thing, and why you only seem to know about her?" Steven requested.

"He isn't the only one who knows about her." Garnet interjected, "I do too.".

"I know about her too." Lapis added.

Everyone else was silent.

"Seems that I still have a lot to explain." Jade stated, "Let me start from the beginning.".

Steven sat down with an eager expression on his face. He had campfire stories on the list of things he wanted to do, but all of the sudden the greatest story possible just fell right into their laps.

The other gems stared at Jade with intrigue. Aquamarine sat down on the log behind Jade and patiently waited as the tall gem began his story.

"Before the creation of Rose Quartz, before the ancient gem's civilization expanded just outside this very solar system, they were under the rule of the diamonds. You are all familiar with four of the diamonds, however back then there was a fifth diamond, a ruthless and brutal leader who reveled in conquering planets for the sake of expanding her faction's kingdom and generating power. That diamond was Green Diamond, the all powerful, all knowing gem that...I once served." Jade began.

Everyone stared at him with feelings of awe. Though a few gems were a little skeptical, though they kept their protests to themselves as they were still interested in what he had to say. Even Topaz left his perch to observe the scene from the roof. Steven was blown away by what he had heard.

"Whaaaat!? There was a, and you were, and that many years, and holy smokes this sounds amazing! Tell us everything!" He beamed.

Jade stared at the child with a bit of confusion.

"Are you sure? I was going to paraphrase it a bit." He stated.

Steven shook his head.

"Nope! Keep everything there! Why would we want to skip over any details for something this amazing!?" Steven proclaimed.

There were no objections, so Jade nodded in agreement.

"Very well. Let's start from the beginning...My beginning to be specific." He suggested.

Steven nodded eagerly, and soon everyone was engrossed in Jade's tale. The gems were no longer sitting around a campfire, but were transferred hundreds of thousands of years back in time, to the time where Green Diamond ruled with an iron fist.

/**/

There was total blackness. Nothing but the void. A group of gems were gathered in a chamber filled with dark green crystals awaiting a miracle. Suddenly, the ground began to quake and crack. Dark green light shone through the cracks, illuminating the room. A new gem was about to be born. The fertile soil vibrated uncontrollably, and then all was still. No light, no movement, there wasn't anything. The surrounding gems stared at the still ground. Azurite moved away from the circle to get a closer look. She peered at the cracks in the ground, and then a few feet in front of her the ground exploded, causing the blue green gem to stumble backwards and fall on her back. From the newly formed crater, Jade was born. He groaned as he stumbled out of the loose ground. He took his first step, and then took a seat on the still solid ground. All was silent still silent, but now there was light. The three surrounding gems let their stones glow, illuminating the room. Jade looked up to see Bloodstone, Tsavorite, but before he could look at the titanic third gem, Azurite landed in front of him. The startled gem flinched and leaned back as the other gem leaned in.

"What kind of gem is this!?" She exclaimed as she started looking over every part of his body, "Are they durable? Are they intelligent?".

After looking over his body, she got on all fours and leaned into his face.

"Are you daaangerous?" She asked.

Jade was silent, and Azurite's coy expression faded into a bewildered one as Bloodstone lifted the odd gem off of Jade.

"Forgive her enthusiasm. She's done it for a lot of new recruits." The quartz explained.

Jade looked up at the giant gem with a meek stare. Tsavorite rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh.

"Bored, are we?" A deep, irritated voice echoed.

Tsavorite jerked to stand up and at attention.

"No lord diamond!" She stated.

"Each addition to my army is a momentous moment. And I have to say that I have a somewhat...interested in this one in particular. Haven't felt this sort of sensation since you popped out of the ground." The voice said.

Tsavorite looked on at her two comrades welcoming Jade into the pack. Jade seemed a little happy now that the confusion was cleared up. The tall gem turned around and walked away.

"My lord?" The black green gem uttered.

"I'm placing him in your hands for now. I'll be back later this week. I'm off to conquer another planet." She stated.

"Without us? Shouldn't we come to assist you-".

"I am fully capable of gauging a situation Tsavorite!" She yelled, "It's species is so primitive they don't even have proper weaponry. I can take it down with a few platoons. Besides, genocide always inspires my best ideas.".

Everyone was silent. Jade rushed ahead of Bloodstone and Azurite. The quartz reached out to stop him but he went ahead of the two. He stopped next to Tsavorite and looked on at the great diamond. She was as tall as Opal, had intimidating shamrock green eyes, and short, Cleopatra esque spring green hair. She wore emerald green body armor with seafoam green gauntlets. Her legs were obscured by a Jade green cloak. Her slanted pupils glared down at Jade, and he felt a chill run up his spine as her fierce aura ate away at him. She pointed directly at him and he felt like his first moments were about to become his last.

"You are to obey your peers every command. The first week of your birth shall be the harshest training you will ever endure in your short life. You'll be beaten down, burned, frozen, and be subjected to pain that your feeble mind wouldn't believe even existed. By your second week...well, I hope you adapt to the conditions coming this week. If not, your life shall be for nothing. Prove your worth to the one true diamond faction!" The intimidating gem ordered.

Jade was stunned into silence. All around him the the gems looked at him then back to their leader. She crossed her arms and started to tap her arm impatiently.

"Well?" She asked.

Jade shook his head and gained a determined expression.

"I...I'll do what I can for the diamond faction!" Jade declared.

The titanic gem continued to stare at him. She then shrugged and walked away. The surrounding gems gathered in front of him and were at attention. Jade's stern composure went lax.

"What's the diamond faction?" He asked.

Tsavorite shook her head and walked to the right. She motioned for the others to follow her and they did as such. They walked to the right, away from the mighty diamond. She walked onto a disc and was teleported away by a beam of light. The troupe of gems entered a dark hallway illuminated by evenly spaced spheres of light.

"First and foremost, you do not serve the diamond faction. You serve OUR diamond's faction. The ultimate faction, the Green Diamond Armada." Tsavorite explained.

"Armada?" Jade asked.

There was a light at the end of the corridor, and once they were out, what Jade saw was incredible. The sky was filled with bright lights from thousands of stars, various nebulae and interstellar clouds. On the ground below, limestone earth housed many strangely structured buildings, with various gems worked in this formed society. The other gems walked above it all on a large runway floating high in the air.

"Our society is responsible for spreading the word of our great leader. We travel to various galaxies, examining different planets and then taking over them in the hopes to expand our empire and create more gems." Tsavorite stated.

"Don't you just do it here, like you did with me?" Jade asked.

"What happened with you was a special case. Every century Green Diamond has this tradition where she spawns a gem from this planet, as it is the one she calls home and hopes that she will spawn something incredible." Tsavorite stated.

"And she's right! Cause the first one to pop out of the planet was Tsavorite, then came me, then Bloodstone, and a few other gems and now you!" Azurite declared.

Jade looked at the others and then focused on Azurite.

"I take it the big one if Bloodstone and the leader is Tsavorite?".

"Mhm!".

"And uh...what about those others?".

Azurite got a little uncomfortable.

"Oh. Well...the last few centuries have been a little rough for Green Diamond. They were just...really bad gems that ended up dead in some way or form. She's just tired of disappointment." The blue green gem stated.

Jade frowned.

"But don't worry! I'm sure you'll break the cycle!" She beamed.

Azurite walked ahead and Jade was left with Bloodstone.

"Is she uh...serious about that?".

"No. It's been a millennium since a worthwhile gem was around. I'm sure you'll be fine as number eleven." The giant gem stated.

Jade shook his head and looked forward. He was distracted from the grim news when he saw a giant green tower. Shards of crystals spawned from the outer walls to create a natural wall of spikes. He nervously chuckled.

"Is that where Green Diamond lives?" He asked.

"Yep. A magnificent palace for a magnificent ruler." Azurite answered.

"There's a lot more connected below." Bloodstone added.

They all made it to the first gate and Tsavorite turned around. Bloodstone stopped Jade and the three original gems stared at him with now malicious gazes. Tsavorite opened the gate behind them and the three of them stepped aside to show a killing field. Various traps and obstacles designed to maim and destroy anything that dared step foot in the hundred yard arena.

"This is where you'll live for the first week of your life. One-hundred and sixty-eight hours of pain, endurance and torture. That is what you must overcome to prove that you are worthy to serve Green Diamond." Tsavorite explained.

"My advice to you, figure out how to summon your weapon and learn what powers you have hidden within." Bloodstone added.

"By the way you're starting...right now!" Azurite shouted.

She grabbed Jade by the arm and then threw him down towards the pit of death. Tsavorite closed the gate and the three of them chuckled.

"How much you wanna bet that he survives the week?" Azurite asked.

"You always say they win and you've lost every bet since. There's not much left you have that I want." Bloodstone stated.

"How about the bloodthirsty chains of burning torture!?" Azurite offered.

"I'll think of something that can match that later." The giant gem said with a smile.

Tsavorite held back for a second to look back at the gate with a solemn expression.

"_Please let this one be good._" She hoped.

/**/

A great war ship slowly descended downwards to a landing pad. The giant structure landed and the front of the ship opened up revealing Green Diamond. She stepped out of the ship and suddenly, a small green gem rushed over to her side as she walked back to her ship.

"How was the trip lord diamond?" The little one asked.

"Pathetic. It was so easy." She stated.

"Ahm, yes of course.".

"How is the new recruit doing?" The giant gem asked.

"Uhhh, well-"

Green Diamond rushed to the front door of her tower and turned back to the smaller gem.

"Forget it, I'll ask the elites.".

She turned around, entered the tower, and walked through her giant throne room. Her central control panel where she was able to view all activity on her planet. But she ignored it for now, walked over to a corridor on the other side, and continued onward to the trial chamber. She saw her three elites sitting around the main gate just biding their time. Tsavorite was the first to see her and urged the other ones to kneel before her. Green Diamond raised her hand up in response.

"At ease." She ordered.

"Thank you lord diamond.".

"What is the status of number eleven?" She asked.

"Not sure. We got a twenty minutes before the full week is done." Azurite stated.

"You mean to tell me that none of you have kept him under observation?" She growled.

Azurite scratched the back of her head.

"To be fair, your excellency, you imposed a strict rule that you were to be the one who oversees the operation and no one else.".

Green Diamond covered her face with her hand and sighed.

"Whatever just open the door. Least I can see aftermath of whatever carnage happened.".

Bloodstone tapped a few keys on a panel and the door opened up. The four gems walked in to see the new recruit's shattered remains. There was a bit of a walk to the pit. There was nothing but blackness and pillars. Tsavorite walked ahead and let her gem light the way. The two made it to the edge of the arena and peered down. During the fourth day, the arena would dispense robotic drones that replicated an average soldier. Green Diamond prided herself for having the most diabolical training arena ever constructed, though there wasn't much competition for such a thing among diamonds. So sad to say that her tradition has yielded a lot of failures. For every gem like Tsavorite or Bloodstone there were thirty failures. It didn't get under her skin that much though, as that made the gem's victory that much sweeter, but waiting on a prime soldier to appear still wore on her patience. However to everyone's surprise, in the center of the arena, surrounded by drones, flames and traps of all kinds, Jade stood tall. Battered and bleeding, but he still stood with a look of determination and rage.

"I...can't believe it." Bloodstone commented.

Azurite guffawed.

"I knew he was special!".

"Keep your adulations for later. He still has a half hour left.".

Green Diamond leaned over to focus in on Jade.

"Funny, I don't see his weapon." She commented.

Everyone else took notice to this and then Jade looked around to see the four of them staring down at him. His scowl turned into a devilish grin. He raised his right arm to the sky.

"Green Diamond! How wonderful of you to return after your victory over whatever pathetic slag dared to stand in your way!" Jade greeted.

Azurite leaned over to Tsavorite.

"Kisss aaaaaasssss." She hummed.

"I will admit, being thrown into this pit, being under constant assault from all of these vile and wretched things, it gives me an idea of what kind of world I will be in. Well I will tell you this my lord! I love it!" He exclaimed.

Green Diamond was surprised by his declaration. To have enough energy to give such a zealous and insane speech, still inches from death, it was something insane.

"I don't know how long it has been, but I have done it. I know how to summon my weapon. But I put it away! I was doing fine without it, so I figured I would put it away for the sake of letting my ruler, my matriarch bear witness to my blade's birth!" He shouted to the heavens.

His right arm's gem began to glow and it's light formed into a rectangular sword. As he clenched the hilt tightly, the drones continued to pour into the arena, all positioned to drive him into whatever diabolical trap to defeat the confident gem.

"The thrill of combat, the adrenaline from pain, the fear of every moment being your last...it all seems to have an undertone of...euphoria to it!" Jade declared, "I understand now why I was put into this arena. Cause I had to get used to dealing with this level of insanity on a daily basis, and I don't want to have anything less than this!".

Green Diamond stepped as close to the edge as she could and looked down at his face.

"Tell me your name!" She commanded.

"My name...is Jade!" He answered.

The drones rushed in all at once, but Jade was so used to their attack patterns that he was able to effortlessly dodge their attacks and cleave them in two with his newly kindled blade. It was an all out war zone and Jade was the lone mercenary taking on an entire army. Blood leaked from his cuts and welts, but the pain was nothing to him. He was able to continue the onslaught without skipping a beat.

Green Diamond was deeply intrigued by his fighting style, as were the others.

"Damn, look at em go. Just smashing em like they were made of glass." Azurite commented.

"So savage." Bloodstone added.

Tsavorite was silent looking down at the scene and then looked to her diamond to see something amazing. Her diamond was smiling. She hadn't smiled for over a thousand years, but now she was grinning like all the stress of the world left her for this one wonderful moment. The black green gem looked back with her own smile.

Suddenly, Jade took a spear to the stomach. He was lifted into the air and he grit his teeth in pain. He threw his sword at the drone and its head split in half. The machine exploded and he fell on his back. The remaining drones took the opportunity to surround him and ready their blasters. Jade quickly removed the spear from his gut, but it was too late. They all fired at him at once, and each blast made their mark. There was nothing but the sound of the remaining whirling traps.

The other gems looked up to see their diamond in the same position she had been in, but now she was scowling, and her arm was twitching.

"_So disappointing. And he only had five minutes until-_" Azurite thought.

Jade leaped out of the cloud of smoke and cleaved several bots in two. The two at his side attempted to fire at him, but Jade thrust his sword back at one while kicking the other one over. The force of his kick knocked several other drones into the death pits below, and the robot behind him blew up, allowing him cover to attack the rest of them. He threw his blade at the farthest drone and then picked up the nearest one, throwing it into the rest of the grouped up drones. The resulting explosion decimated the rest of the drones, and there were no more enemies for Jade to face. The dark green gem fell back and sat down, chuckling to himself as he enjoyed his time of peace. The pits and traps deactivated and then all was still in the darkness. Jade's eyes lit up with glee.

"I...I did it!" He declared.

"Naaah! Not just yet new blood!" Azurite taunted.

Jade looked up to her in confusion, but then several spotlights lit up a gargantuan hole in the ground. From the hole, a giant octopus like drone emerged. It's four tentacles lashed out with blades on the underside of them. It had a central, large eye glaring right at Jade, and it was held up by four spikes.

"That's the final test! You beat that, you pass! You don't, you either die or have to start from square one. By the way, you only got fifteen minutes to drop it. So get to it!" The blue green gem beamed.

The beast stomped forward and ripped off a chunk of wall with one of its tentacles. It chucked the large piece of rock at Jade but the battle scarred gem was able to catch the stone and throw it back at his opponent. The mechanical horror smashed the rock with one of it's mighty tentacles, but the distraction was enough for Jade to get in underneath the beast. Under the monster, he looked up to see a mechanical beak open up to reveal several laser cannons. They took aim and fired at him, but the fast gem was able to avoid the attacks. He took his opportunity and slashed at one of the legs, but his blade only went through halfway. The monster moved and took Jade's sword with it. Jade focused and his sword disappeared from the damaged leg.

A laser round hit him in the back and he flew forward. The blast was more intense than any of the drone's attacks. He painfully got back up as the beast slammed its damaged leg down, causing it to stumble over. Jade rushed forward to deliver the finishing blow, but he was greeted by its bladed tentacles. They swung and slammed down to stop the warrior, but he moved around the large and clunky attacks and made it to the machine's central eye. He roared out as he slammed his sword into it's monstrous eye. The glass layer cracked, the beast was still, all was silent, but the beast then grabbed him. Jade could feel sharp metal dig into his body, and the vile beast flung him towards the opposite end of the arena. Jade slammed into the wall, it breaking behind him as he bounded off it and fell some tens of feet below. He laid flat on his face, still clutching his sword. The beast let out a mighty bellow as it balanced itself on its three remaining legs. Jade got to his hands and knees and coughed up a load of green blood. He trembled as he stared down into the puddle.

"_No...this can't be it. I've come so far! I can't let it end this way! I can't! Not in front of my Diamond! Not in front of my comrades! Not...what am I doing?_" He thought.

Green Diamond stared down at him with her same level of intrigue.

"_Get up. Get...up. I know you can._" She thought.

The beast roared as it stomped forward to kill Jade.

"_What did I say about this? This was all for fun. Something to entertain my queen. To prove my worth. And now I'm just beating myself up when in truth, I'm having fun with this deep down. So...why the hell am I being so stupid!?_" He yelled in his head.

Jade fell back onto his knees and placed his sword in his lap.

"_I am to do everything for her. But...if I'm going to do it...I'm going to do it my way!_".

He grabbed his blade with both hands, held it in front of him, and his gem &amp; blade began to glow a bright green. A roaring flame of emerald emerged from his sword, and the flames fanned backwards to engulf his body. Jade then charged forward like a shooting star, as if he had become one with the flames. All the others watched on in awe, even Green Diamond.

"Just try and keep up!" He taunted.

The beast started swinging wildly in a vain attempt to hit him, but the gem was too fast for it. Jade charged up to the ceiling and planted his feet into the solid rock. The gems could see through the flames that he had the most insane smile on his face.

"Green Diamond!" He called out.

His diamond looked up at him and he looked back to her.

"This fire, this inferno, I burn for you and you alone!" He declared.

With that, he charged back down to the machine and into one of its tentacles, breaking it off of the body. Before the beast could react, Jade rushed through the other two and then circled around to charge into it's eye. His sword was slowly going through the incredibly hard surface, but he managed to crack through and thrust his blade into the machine. His flames blew out and he was blown backwards, but the machine trembled and quaked as the fire from his blade tore it apart from the inside. The beast blew up in a giant green and red inferno. Jade's confident smile contorted to a horrified frown as he realized that he couldn't escape the blast. The wall of fire rushed towards him, but suddenly it changed direction. It was flowing towards the other gems.

Jade looked to see that the explosion was being absorbed by Green Diamond. His mighty ruler had her open hand reaching out and the crimson and emerald flames entered her palm. Under her armor, he could see light escaping through the links in it. The explosion was completely absorbed, and Green Diamond reveled in the feeling of all that power contained in her arm. She could feel his passionate flames burning deep within her core, and it filled her with a type of euphoria she had not felt in quite some time. She grinned and looked down at Jade with a smile.

"Jade!" She called out.

Jade got to his feet but then stumbled to kneel before her.

"Yes my lord!".

"Take the rest of the day to rest. Then...meet me in my private chambers. You've done well for your first week. For the first time in a millennium...I'm impressed." She said.

With that, Green Diamond walked away. The other gems leaped down to congratulate him.

"Way to go buddy you did it!" Azurite cheered, "You're a part of the team, and you just won me a pair of ten thousand volt bladed whips!".

"Yeah! Way to-wait what?" Bloodstone added.

Tsavorite walked in front of him and offered him her hand.

"Welcome to the mightiest force in the universe." She said.

Jade smiled and grabbed her hand.

/**/

Jade walked up the stairs to meet Green Diamond. It took him five hours to recover from his ordeal, but as soon as he felt alright he rushed to meet with his leader. As he ascended up the tower, he finally made it to a giant double door. Jade reached for the handle with hesitation, but he moved past his nervousness and opened the door. It was a relatively bare room save for a large, gorgeous ottoman. On a wall there was a giant screen displaying various areas of the planet. There were a few square cubes in front of the ottoman. Green Diamond was standing outside on a balcony, looking down at her civilization.

Jade took a knee and bowed before his ruler.

"I'm here, as you requested my diamond.".

Green Diamond turned around, walked into the room and with a wave of her hand, curtains unfurled down, concealing the opening to the balcony. She smiled down on him.

"Get on your feet Jade." She commanded.

Jade did as he was told and stood at attention.

"If I may be so bold, why did you wish to see me? To review my performance in the arena?".

"No. To let you know a few things about your position, your world...and myself." Green Diamond said as she walked over to her ottoman, "Have a seat.".

Jade walked to one of the square cubes and took a seat. Green Diamond grinned and started to glow.

"First of all…" She started.

Green Diamond shrunk in size and her appearance entirely changed. She was a little taller than Bloodstone. Her hairstyle changed as well, it was more natural and it's length was at her upper back. Her battle armor was replaced with a black tank top with her gem, which was shaped in a diamond, on the chest area, a long skirt of similar color to her cloak with a thigh high split. She wore long, dark green boots and mint colored gloves. Jade's powerful, regal looking queen shifted into a beautiful young woman.

"...This is who I actually am." She said in a young woman's voice.

Jade stared at her in disbelief. His jaw was agape, stunned into silence by the revelation. Green Diamond chuckled.

"Oh I love everyone's reaction. Nothing will top Tsavorite's reaction but your's is pretty good too." She admitted.

She laid on her side on the ottoman in a relaxed position. One of her legs was exposed as she stared back at Jade with a playful stare.

"So...you enjoying the view?" She teased.

Jade shook his head and looked her directly in the eyes.

"No my diamond! I mean yes, I mean...you look really beautiful." He stated.

Green Diamond rolled on her back and started guffawing.

"Ahahaha! Oh...oh my me that's rich! Just...woo you went straight for it! I thought your performance gave me a good impression but you! You are something else!" She laughed.

She clutched her stomach and started kicking into the air. Jade was beyond confused.

"_This...is my powerful leader?_" He thought.

"I...I can't...I can't...I feel like I'm going to explode! I think this is the end...I'm gonna pop! I'm gonna die of laughter!" She continued.

She continued on for a few seconds and then calmed down. Her loud laughing faded into light giggling. She sat up straight and took a deep breath.

"Oooooh geez. Thought I was gonna die there!" She admitted as she wiped a tear from her eye, "Okay then, let's get down to business. Ask me any question you want.".

"Oh! Uh, well I guess the first question I have is why don't you walk around like that all the time?" Jade asked.

Green Diamond's happy expression shifted into an irritated frown. She flopped back onto the ottoman in with an irritated groan.

"Ugh, it's because the other diamonds want me to. We have a super strict code and we should have a personal appearance. We gotta be big! Imposing! The epitome of perfection! And I kind of...don't fit the bill. So I morph a bit to match their stupid standards. It's a pain but whatever." She explained.

"I hope having to do that all the time doesn't affect your capabilities." Jade commented.

His diamond looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and he immediately bowed his head in respect.

"Not that you would ever be weak my lord green diamond!" He shouted.

She chuckled again.

"Oh Jade ease up. I know you meant no disrespect by that. But that sort of transitions to a request I have for you." She mentioned.

He raised his head and looked at her with determination.

"Anything for you!".

Green Diamond sat onto the end of his bed and stared directly at him with a cocky glare.

"Your power intrigues me. So...I'm giving you another test.".

"Yes?" Jade asked.

She smiled.

"I want you to hit me as hard as you can.".

Jade's confidence turned to shock.

"My...my diamond!?" He shouted.

She held up one finger and hushed him.

"I know it sounds crazy, but it's an order from your diamond. Use your fist, use your sword, do what you want to do. But I don't want you to sell an attack in an attempt to kiss my ass and make me feel special, no. I want you. To hit me. As hard as you can." She demanded.

Jade got up and summoned his sword. He gripped it with both hands and raised it up high. She stared at his sword and waited in silence. A few seconds went by and Jade swung the blade down as hard as he could towards her head. The blade connected with her head. Jade's eyes were opened wide. The guilt of striking his master was too much. His gut was tying itself in knots and he broke out in a sweat. Suddenly, he heard her laughing again.

"Oh ho that's the stuff! I actually felt that!" She giggled.

Jade hopped back and made his blade disappear. To his shock, Green Diamond remained unmoved. She gave him a wide grin and Jade could only stammer.

"What...how...my…".

"Sweet Jade, let me imbue you with words to live by. You're either perfect, or you're not me." She stated.

Jade sat back down and looked at her in amazement.

"So...any more questions? That aren't about me." She asked.

"What is my role? Well, our role?" He asked.

"The point of our armada is to invade other worlds and obliterate any resistant life forms. After that, the other diamonds come and harvest the planet. I get some new gems, they do all the boring work, rinse and repeat." The beautiful gem answered.

"So we regularly kill other species?".

"Oh Jade don't be so modest. We're above them. We're essentially immortal. Well, we diamonds are definitely immortal but the rest of you are pretty close.".

"Alright. I think I get it.".

Green Diamond smiled and pat his head.

"Good! You get one more question.".

"Uh...Are the other diamonds nice?".

She frowned.

"They are arrogant, stuffy sticks in the mud who would rather have someone else do their dirty work then to do it themselves. Also they're pretty weak. They'd rather lead than do stuff. Our relationship is pretty strained." She said.

Jade was silent.

"Okay, time's up. Now go and train. You'll be working with the other three as part of the elites. In other words...GET BACK TO WORK!" She shouted.

Jade rushed out of the room and leaped down the stairs. The great diamond leaned back down on her ottoman and groaned. She didn't want to be reminded of her strained relationship with her "fellow" diamonds. Their rules, their policies, they were nothing but nuisances to her. She got back up and morphed into her regal form.

"Alright, game face G.D.. Let's get some work done." She said to herself.

/**/

Centuries had passed since his initiation. Jade had fought in many battles with his sisters under his Diamond's guidance. His name became just as infamous as the other gems in the armada's faction. The gems had spread throughout several galaxies, all thanks to Green Diamond's military prowess. Life was splendid for the faction, until one fateful day.

Green Diamond was accompanied by her elites. They strode down a bright walkway in the middle of space. She was called for a meeting by Yellow and Blue Diamond, and they chose to meet at a citadel in the middle of space. The gate to the citadel was guarded by two giant golems, but they allowed entry for the great diamond. She walked inside and saw the two mighty diamonds sitting in their own thrones, accompanied by their pearls.

"Green Diamond, wonderful that you came today." Blue Diamond greeted.

"Have a seat." Yellow Diamond offered.

A giant throne appeared from the ground. Green Diamond took a seat and the elites stood by her sides.

"Alright enough formalities. Why did you summon me here?" She asked.

"It's about your demands for each planet we've harvested. They're starting to get very egregious." Yellow Diamond stated.

"There's only so much we can give without dipping into our own resources." Blue Diamond stated.

"What? That's the reason you brought me here!? To scold me on payments that I have rightfully earned!?" Green Diamond shouted.

"Please calm yourself. It's just that there aren't that many gems in our faction's territories compared to yours." Blue Diamond stated.

"That's because most of my troops go to wars instead of yours!".

The three diamonds began to argue and the elites sighed.

"I hate politics." Azurite commented.

Jade's eye wandered and he saw Blue Diamond's hand maidens. He felt his heart stop when he beared witness to a little gem looking at him as well. For the first time, he had looked into the eyes of his future lover, Aquamarine. Azurite brought him back to reality with a nudge to the ribs.

"Uh oh, someone's got the hots for a hand maiden!" She jested.

"Shh! You're gonna piss off the diamonds. And I… I don't know about that." Jade whispered.

Azurite looked up at the titanic gems arguing and then back to Jade.

"You can go talk to her. Sneak behind Blue Diamond's chair and go speak with her." Azurite stated.

"Are you crazy!?".

"Yes. Just dash over quickly.".

Jade felt uneasy about it, but he went for it. Aquamarine was surprised by his bold action, and Jade shyly beckoned her to come behind the throne. She reluctantly did so and he was face to face with her.

"Hello." Jade said.

"Hello, Jade." She greeted.

"You know my name?".

"Of course. We know of all Green Diamond's champions.".

"Oh, right of course.".

"Which makes me wonder what you want with a lowly gem as me.".

Jade scratched the back of his head and smiled.

"Well...it's just that you looked really pretty and I thought it would be best if I were to talk to you now before I never see you again." He admitted.

Aquamarine blushed a little and averted her gaze.

"Oh my...thank you.".

Jade reached into his pocket and gave her a small stone.

"We keep these communication stones on us at all times. My frequency is one, six, four. Call me whenever you'd like." Jade said.

"I...I'm not sure.".

Jade held her hand.

"Please do. I would love to learn more about you.".

Aquamarine felt butterflies in her stomach and nodded in agreement. Jade smiled and quickly dashed back to his post. The light blue gem walked back to her spot. The dark green gem leaned over to talk to Azurite.

"What'd I miss?".

"Things are taking a pretty violent turn.".

Green Diamond slammed her fist on her throne, causing it to crack.

"That is enough! I have had it with your petty, condescending lectures!" She shouted.

Yellow Diamond stood up and glared at her.

"Don't talk back to us! You may be a diamond but you are still much younger than any of us! Enough with your ridiculous tantrums you-".

Green Diamond got up to her feet and her hands began to glow with energy. Yellow Diamond was stunned into silence.

"I've lived long enough to know how I want to live in life! I'm tired of living by your rules, and appearing the way you want me to appear!" She shifted into her natural form, "I'm done doing your dirty work. If you want more gems to yourselves, do the job yourself you uptight, irritating clods!".

Yellow Diamond grimaced at her and felt her body twinge with rage. Green Diamond frowned.

"This conversation is over. Good-bye." Green Diamond turned and walked away.

The elites followed her. Jade peeked over his shoulder to see Aquamarine staring in disbelief.

"You are not to leave!" Yellow Diamond shouted.

The two large golems blocked her path, but Green Diamond raised her hand and obliterated them with one blast of vivid green energy. She looked back at the two shocked diamonds with malice in her eyes.

"You can't make me.".

The gems stormed back to her ship and then went off. Green Diamond sat in her oversized chair with the sourest expression on her face. Tsavorite was the first one to speak to her.

"Good of you...to finally stand up to them my diamond." She uttered.

"Find a planet with life on it. I have a lot of rage to burn." She ordered.

Azurite reluctantly tapped a few keys on a panel and after a few seconds of scanning, something came up.

"We have a few actually-".

"Good. I'll go with any of them. Tonight will be a bloodbath.".

/**/

A week had passed since that fateful meeting. Green Diamond had went into isolation as soon as they all got home. The elites were doing their best to manage things without her leadership, but it was getting to them. Jade had continued to speak with Aquamarine in between their duties. Their conversations were the only things that really motivated him to go on.

It was nighttime on the planet. All was somewhat still, and Jade was all alone. He sat on the edge of one of the windows of the tower, looking down at the world. The cold wind that caressed his face had an almost hypnotic feeling to it. He suddenly felt the urge to see his diamond. He didn't care if he would be going against orders, he had to go and see her. He moved from the window and rushed to her chambers. He carefully opened the door and saw her laying lifelessly, face down on her ottoman.

"Did I give you authority to enter my chambers?" She said.

Jade stepped inside and bowed his head in submission.

"I'm sorry my diamond. But...I was worried about you.".

"I don't care how you feel. Leave.".

"But...my diamond we need you to come back-".

She raised her body up, reaching back with one arm and a green aura engulfed her arm. She had an enraged expression on her face.

"I said leave!" She shouted as she fired at him.

Jade took the blast to the chest, being knocked back into the door and fell to his feet. His skin burned worse than it ever had before. Green Diamond's expression turned to horrified concern and she immediately rushed to his side.

"No no no! I thought you would've dodged or run away! Are you hurt?" She asked.

Jade coughed and smiled.

"I'm alright my diamond.".

"Don't call me that." She demanded.

She lifted him up and walked him over to one of the cubes. He took a seat and she sat on her own.

"Why don't you wish to be referred by your title?" He asked.

She sighed.

"I wish not to be reminded of my position. I'm tired of all this diamond nonsense. I just want to be a ruler. My own ruler, and not have to be like others just because of who I am." She explained.

"You are your own ruler. You are my ruler." Jade argued.

She smiled.

"I know, and I appreciate you and the rest of my gems. But there has to be some changes now. Things look bleak, but they can be adapted to." She said, "It'll just be harsh doing so.".

Jade nodded. She leaned back and started to hum. Jade tilted his head in confusion. The humming turned to whistling. She continued to whistle her song and Jade leaned back, enjoying the melody. She stopped and continued to stare up at the ceiling.

"That song...I used to hum it all the time when I was first born. I made up the melody myself. I could only whistle it when I was alone because it would've been an odd thing for a diamond to do, but I still find a way to do so. It's what keeps me going. It lets me keep my sanity amidst all the violence, the stupid politics, against all the stresses in my thousands of years." She stated.

Jade looked on with a sense of pity and sorrow for his leader.

"Do you...dislike fighting?".

"No. I love to fight and conquer...but above all I love that song. I can't understand why, but it's the most important thing to me." She admitted, "It's silly I know.".

Green Diamond leaned forward and smiled at him.

"Thank you for coming to see me Jade." She said.

"My pleasure my dia...my matriarch." He said.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Eh, that'll have to do from now on.".

He smiled and walked out of her chambers.

"Leaving already?" She asked.

"You rest. I'll take care of whatever mess is going on with the other gems.".

She nodded, giving him her consent to do so. He exited the room and closed the door. He looked to his side to see Tsavorite, Bloodstone and Azurite. Before he could say anything, Tsavorite raised her hand to him.

"Say nothing. We heard every word." She admitted.

"And we have to say thank you. So long as we know that she is fine, everything will be alright." Bloodstone said.

The four gems walked down the stairs together.

"You think she'll come out of her chambers soon?" Azurite asked.

"I can only hope so, but it seems very possible." Jade admitted.

Tsavorite averted her gaze from Jade, and then looked back to him.

"Jade, I-".

She was cut off by a strange buzzing noise. It was Jade's communication stone. He fished it out of his pocket and held it in his open palm. He looked at the others and they silently gave him their consent to activate it. He tapped the top of it, and a hologram of Aquamarine was displayed. She looked distressed.

"Aquamarine? What's wrong?" He asked.

"Jade! It's awful, so awful!" She shouted.

Tsavorite cut in and looked at her.

"Calm yourself. What's going on?" She demanded.

"The other four Diamond's armies are coming to destroy Green Diamond!" She admitted.

The four gem's eyes went wide with shock and terror.

"What!? Why!?" Azurite shouted.

"I only heard bits and pieces of the reason why but it was mentioned that Green Diamond has become a liability and she has to be...broken." She choked, "Their armadas are on their way now and it looks so bad for you all now it looks really, really bad! I had to warn you because...you'll be killed if you don't turn her over!".

The others looked at each other and Jade looked back to the crying blue gem.

"Thank you for telling this to us." Jade said.

The sky blue gem flinched as she heard a sound on her end.

"I think I hear someone coming! I have to go!" She declared.

The hologram cut out, and the four gems immediately rushed back to Green Diamond's quarters. Bloodstone broke down the door and their diamond looked at them with confusion.

"What's going on?" She asked.

Tsavorite stepped forward.

"My lord! We just received a message from a mole that there's going to be a coup to destroy you!" She shouted.

All the life from their leader's face was drained. She slumped onto her chair with her head in her hands.

"I...I can't believe it. After all this time, they're just going to throw me away like this?" She asked herself.

"My queen get a hold of yourself! We need you more than ever!" Azurite shouted.

"I can assemble the troops now! We can fight them back, we can show them how powerful we truly are! You'll be respected as the most powerful gem of all! It'll all be okay!" Bloodstone declared.

The others looked back to see her the mighty gem's eyes well up with tears. She couldn't lie to herself, she knew what would happen no matter how much denial she was putting against it.

"It'll be okay!" She repeated.

Green Diamond looked at her elites with concerned eyes. Her mighty warriors were now reduced to children begging their mother not to die. A determined scowl formed on her face as she got up. She walked over to the edge of her room, before the balcony and stood there.

"My mistress?" Tsavorite uttered.

"They only want me, right? Then that's what they'll get." She stated.

Jade rushed forward and stopped right behind her.

"No! You can't surrender to them! You're Green Diamond! The most powerful gem in all the galaxies! You can't go out like this!" He begged.

She chuckled.

"You're right. I won't give them the satisfaction of letting them see me grovel before them. I'm going out on my own terms." She stated.

Her skin began to crack, light leaking out of her body. Jade took a step back and the others grouped around him. Their diamond turned around to show her form crumbling. Her face was barely recognizable due to the energy her stone was putting it. Her gemstone began to crack under the pressure she was exerting.

"Show them my remains. Let them know that my gems are not a threat to their reign." She ordered.

"No! You can't die!" Tsavorite shouted.

"Sorry, this is the only way. I have one last order for all of you." She declared.

They were all silent as she smiled at them. Her gem was about to burst.

"Survive.".

With that, she imploded. The room filled with light, blinding the four gems. They looked back and all that was left was a pile of shards. Tsavorite rushed forward to the pile and grabbed a chunk of the remains of her goddess. The others couldn't look at the site, but Jade managed to step to Tsavorite's side. Jade put a hand on his comrade's shoulder as she silently sobbed. Azurite looked back to her allies with tears in her eyes as well.

"What do we do now?" She asked.

Tsavorite wiped the tears from her eyes and walked back to the others, gripping the chunk of green stone as if her life depended on it.

"We run. We get as far away from those monsters as possible. I refuse to live in a world ruled by them!" The green and black gem shouted.

Bloodstone nodded.

"Agreed! The Homeworld scum will never order us!" She yelled.

"Yeah! Right Jade!?" Azurite stated.

Jade silently stared at them with a solemn expression on his face. He looked at the pile of green and back to the others.

"I can't." He said.

They all stared at him in disbelief.

"What? But...Jade you can't give your life to them. They're evil! Look what they drove our leader to do!" Tsavorite said.

"I know but...if I leave, what of the others? They'll be slaughtered. If I stay, and...show them what our leader did, they might be spared." He explained, "I can't abandon them. Not like this.".

The others were silent and Tsavorite walked towards him.

"I'm sorry. I want to join you, I do. But someone has to stay and sort all of this out." He argued.

His ally opened her arms and hugged him as tightly as she could. The others ran to him and did the same.

"We won't forget you." She promised.

"Same here." Bloodstone said.

"Never, ever." Azurite added.

They all let go of him, and looked at his face one last time to burn the memory of it into their minds.

"I won't either. Now go! Before some scum ship can come chase you down!" He ordered.

They nodded, and then they ran off. Jade looked at the pile one last time, knelt down, and picked up his leader's remains. With a heavy heart, he exited the chambers and went to surrender to the other diamonds.

/**/

Around the fire, all stared at Jade with awe and sorrow. It was late at night, and everyone could feel the emotion that he had gone through, especially his lover.

"I managed to stave off their attack after showing them Green Diamond's remains. They didn't destroy my faction, they enslaved them instead. I managed to get into Blue Diamond's faction and live the rest of my days with Aquamarine. And well...the rest is history." Jade concluded.

"Woah…" Steven uttered.

"That's so sad…" Jet said.

Garnet looked at him with a sympathetic stare.

"As amazing as the story was, what does this mean if your past allies are still around?" Heliodor asked.

Jade looked to her with stern eyes.

"I died once, and I was revived. The same can be done with her. If Feldspar gets her hands on that fragment...I don't know what could happen." Jade worried.

"Well we'll get her first! And we'll bring her back! And...and she'll meet Tourmaline and you guys can be together again!" Steven declared.

Jade looked at the young boy's confident smile and smiled back.

"You think so?" He asked.

"Sounds all fine and good but we need to focus on the immediate threat first." Jasper stated.

Jade's smile faded away and he looked at the large quartz with a grimace.

"Jasper! The man just poured his heart and soul out to us. Have some respect!" Pearl scolded.

"Yeah! Give em a break!" Amethyst added.

"Sorry, but it's the truth. The main point he made about this was that if we don't find them, Feldspar will have something that powerful in her possession. I'm thinking in terms of things that matter as of this moment." Jasper said.

Pegmatite roared at Jasper.

"Pegmatite's right! That was still a really cruel thing to say!" Rubellite shouted.

"No...she's right." Jade interjected.

The others looked to him and saw his stern expression.

"You all need to focus on stopping Feldspar as soon as possible. That's the truth." He relented.

With that, he ran to the hills where Jasper went.

"Jade wait!" Aquamarine rushed after him.

The others got up but were stopped by when they heard a voice.

"Let the man go!" Topaz shouted.

The others looked up to see Topaz sitting on the edge of the barn's roof.

"This is something that should be kept between husband and wife. They can work this out in their own way. We need to focus on our own problem and then we can help them with theirs." He argued.

Tanza stepped forward and glared up at him. She looked down to Taz and then heaved a sigh.

"He's right. Let's just calm down and let him have his space." The purple gem agreed.

The others looked at each other in silence, and then sat back down.

"Thank you. I didn't mean to sound insensitive but that's just how it is. Now let's focus on formulating a strategy for when we find her." Jasper stated.

Pearl looked to Garnet.

"How much time do you think they need?" She asked.

"Let them have this night in peace." Her leader said.

/**/

Morning came and the gems were packing up the van. Everyone had some level of smile on their face. Between Jade's story and the discussion of strategy, they felt very confident in what was to come. Steven was about to get into the car when Tanza rushed from the hills on her bladed skates. She had a panicked expression on her face. The others went to meet her and the tall gem skidded to a stop in front of them.

"Tanza what's wrong? Where's Jade and Aquamarine?" Garnet asked.

"Honestly I think they would've been Tourmaline at this point." Elbaite commented.

"I think I saw some light coming from the hill late at night. They definitely fused." Pearl added.

"He's gone! Tourmaline ran off in the night!" Tanza shouted.

"What!?" Garnet yelled.

The happy mood of the gems was shattered. In it's place was panic, paranoia and worry. Tourmaline was gone without warning, and he was running into a world where a threat that threatened the universe was growing.

/**/

Tourmaline waited at the edge of the railroad tracks, waiting for the first train to come by. He remember from a story Steven told him about how he went to the kindergarten. He knew there was a functioning warp pad there, and that's where he would start his journey. All the memories of his father's history with Green Diamond flooded into his mind and enlightened him on the truth of his last encounter. He knew he had to find Tsavorite, and on his own. Deep down, he shared his father's love of his diamond, and he had to get to her before the crystal gems or worse Feldspar did. He looked to his right to see a train slowly chugging towards him in the distance. He walked closer to the tracks, but heard something land behind him. Behind him, Topaz walked to him.

"So...you're going after Tsavorite and Green Diamond by yourself. Tell me why." Topaz demanded.

Tourmaline turned around and looked at him with a disinterested stare. Topaz was surprised to see that his normally tan skin was now dark green, much like his father's.

"Look, I don't need a reason." He said.

Tourmaline turned around. Topaz drew his sai and took another step towards his former student.

"You're going against impossible odds with an unstable mind. You can do this with the others Tourmaline, I know they'd be more than happy to help. So come back and fight alongside them!".

Tourmaline scratched the back of his head and sighed.

"Sorry Topaz, but I'm tired of relying on others to fight my own battles for me." He admitted.

He turned around and got into his fighting stance.

"This is my fight.".

Topaz frowned, looked away, but reluctantly got into his own fighting stance. He rushed towards Tourmaline with both sai at the ready, but Tourmaline rushed in as well and punched him in the stomach.

"Not so slow anymore huh?" Tourmaline taunted.

He kneed Topaz in his face, lifting him off of the ground as he flung backwards. Tourmaline side kicked him mid air and Topaz flew through the air and bounded on the hot pavement.

"Go home Topaz." Tourmaline demanded.

Topaz growled and rushed at him again. Tourmaline sighed and the pale gem was upon him. Topaz stabbed wildly at Tourmaline, but the young gem deflected each strike. In between his attacks, Tourmaline punched him in his throat, stopping him. Topaz clutched his damaged throat in agony. If he had a windpipe, it probably would've been crushed by that blow. Tourmaline grabbed him by his shirt, dragged him to the side, and then chucked him far away.

"Face it, I'm stronger than I've ever been. You can't make me do anything anymore." He said.

"I won't let you throw your life away!" Topaz shouted.

Topaz ran back at him again, but this time he started to glow. He morphed and his gems separated, forming two, smaller Topazes. Both had a gem of their own. Tourmaline smirked and looked to see the train was almost upon him.

"Really? Busting out this old trick?" Tourmaline chuckled.

Both of the gems attacked him in perfect coordination, both holding their own pairs of sai. But Tourmaline crushed their offense immediately, grabbing one by the throat and kicking the other one down. He threw the squirming one towards the downed one, and the two skidded along the road. Before they could get up, Tourmaline was upon them, his foot held high ready to stomp down. They couldn't react in time, they just accepted their defeat.

Tourmaline stomped down and there was a huge cloud of dust. The sound of cracking and crumbling rock filled the air. The dust settled, and the two small gems saw that Tourmaline just stomped in front of them, shattering the stone and creating a small crater. Tourmaline looked down at the two of them with a stern expression. They morphed back into their original state, and Tourmaline walked away. The warning lights for the train started to go off, and security beams descended down. The train started to roll by. Tourmaline looked back at Topaz one last time with dead eyes and a serious scowl.

"Make sure nothing bad happens while I'm gone." He requested.

With that, Tourmaline jumped onto the moving train and disappeared with it. Topaz got to his feet and looked on as he saw his comrade standing on top of the train, gazing at him as he went away.

"_Goodbye, old friend._" Topaz thought.


	37. Chapter 37: The Rouge Gems

Polished Gems #37: The Rogue Gems

The Crystal Gems were in disarray. Back at Steven's home, Buergerite was looking over as many scouting drone's recordings as possible. With luck, one of them might contain the information needed to track him down. Steven and Amethyst were out in town asking anyone around if they had seen the boy, while the rest of them were either in a state of worry, anger, or in the case of the homeworld gems, uninterest. Tanza, Jet and Taz seemed the most worried while Rubellite and Pegmatite did their best to keep them in high spirits. The Homeworld gems were resting on the stairs while Lapis was sitting next to Chrysoberyl in Steven's room. Garnet had a very stern expression on her face and seemed to ignore all outside stimuli. In an attempt to utilize her future vision, she analyzed dozens of possibilities of where Tourmaline might be. So far all were shots in the dark. Pearl and the rest of the gems assisted in Buergerite's frantic search.

"I'm failing to understand the point of this. What drones that returned weren't from the greatest range around the globe, but were far enough that they weren't anywhere near Beach City." She argued.

"We can't rule out that one of them found something. He may have warped near one for all we know." Pearl stated.

Buergerite observed the sped up footage of a deep-sea coral reef, and then deactivated the remaining drones.

"Considering that was the last one we have, that's not the case." She stated.

Obsidian held her's in her hand and then tightly clenched her fist around it so hard that she crushed it.

"Damn it all." She seethed.

Sardonyx put her hand on her distressed friend's shoulder and the black gem regained her senses. Obsidian placed the crushed drone by Buergerite.

"Sorry.".

A tendril from her gem wrapped around the crunched object and carefully picked it up.

"It's nothing to fret about. I can repair it in an hour." She stated.

Pearl scratched her head and walked over to Garnet. She looked up to her leader with a determined stare.

"Any idea where we should start?" Pearl asked.

Garnet shook her head.

"Too many places to look. Too many were unfamiliar." She answered.

Pearl frowned and brought a finger to her mouth and tried to think of her own theory of where Tourmaline might be. Sardonyx and Obsidian walked over to the others near the couch and took a few seats around it.

"This is so weird. He's acting like a completely different person." Tanza stated.

Taz was next to her friend. She looked away from her and to the others to add her own statement.

"Yeah. Back when we first me it was nearly impossible to get away from him. He'd always be around his friends. Now he's so...antisocial and angry." Taz added.

"At least he's still reckless. Not every aspect of him is gone." Sardonyx joked.

There was silence. The tan gem cleared her throat to break the awkwardness of the situation, but it didn't help. Dravite and Elbaite appeared via warp pad and walked towards the other gems.

"Didn't spot him anywhere near the other warp pads." Elbaite stated.

"He either didn't take one or is a ways away from one." Dravite added.

The mention of that sparked an idea in Garnet's mind. A ways away from one. The words resonated in her mind trying to connect what might link that to a lead to their friend. Then it struck her like a bat to the head. She straightened up and gained a determined look on her face.

"I know where he might be!" She declared.

All eyes were on her now.

"It was so obvious. He went back to that shine in the forest!" She stated.

The others looked at each other with uneasy stares.

"He went back? Why?" Jet asked.

"Probably to go after the gem that nearly killed him." Lapis stated.

The thought of that sent a chill down a few gems spines.

"But...if he were to do that.." Tanza thought.

A horrified expression grew on her face. She stood straight up and scanned over everyone.

"We have to get to him now!" She shouted.

The others raised up from their seats, save the homeworld gems and Lapis. Chyrsoberyl looked on from bedroom's ledge.

"That goose chase of his will only lead to him getting demolished." Obsidian stated.

"I'll lead the search!" Sardonyx offered, "I only need a few more gems to come with me.".

Tanza glared at Sardonyx with an adamant expression. She held Tanza's hand and nodded.

"We're coming.".

"I'll come too." Jet said.

"I'll come as well. You need me anyway." Garnet stated.

The five gems rushed to the warp pad, but stopped short when the door swung open. Steven and Amethyst rushed in.

"Guys! We got news!" Steven shouted.

"We know where he's at!" Amethyst stated.

Everyone stopped to look and see the two tiny gems, along with Topaz walking through the doorway.

"Topaz knows where he is!" Steven beamed.

"Yeah he know's what's up!" Amethyst added.

All the Crystal Gems rushed over to him, nearly crowding the pale gem. He had a stern, emotionless look on his face. Steven and Amethyst stood in between the others and him.

"Give the guy some space. We just caught him wandering back to the city and all he said when we asked him about Tourmaline was yes." Steven brought up.

"Dude looked insanely tired. Something crazy must have went down but after we asked the first question he just clammed up." Amethyst added.

"Okay. Topaz, tell us where Tourmaline is." Garnet requested.

Topaz closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them up. His calm demeanor transformed into aggressive dominance.

"No." He refused.

All the others stood in shock.

"Wh...what did you say!?" Obsidian roared.

"I said I won't tell you where he might be." Topaz said.

Jet moved in next, her eyes almost grey.

"Wait. Might be!? You mean to tell me that you don't even know where he is!?" She shouted.

Amethyst and Steven were the next to glare at him.

"Why'd you lie to us!? It's important that we find him!" Steven argued.

"You're being a total jerk ya jerk!" Amethyst yelled.

Topaz was still silent. Sardonyx grabbed Topaz by the shirt and glared at him. She lifted the man of the ground and brought him to her eye level.

"Tell...us...the truth." She ordered.

Topaz remained calm and pried himself out of Sardonyx's iron grip. He landed steadily and looked on at everyone's angry expressions. He smirked to himself, adding more heat to their burning anger.

"You act as if you're all responsible for him. Like your all his mother or sister. No wonder he felt so smothered." He stated.

The other gems reached their boiling points, but Sardonyx, Obsidian, Jet and Garnet stepped in front of them with calm demeanors.

"Smothered?" Jet repeated.

Topaz's face reverted to it's default stern expression.

"Yes. He felt weak around you." He said, with Tourmaline's last words to him resonating in his head, "He grew tired of having to rely on you for solving his problems.".

The enraged gem's anger subsided, but was replaced with confusion.

"He felt...weak?" Tanza questioned.

"He never admitted that, but the latter came straight from his mouth. He's going after Tsavorite on his own. He gave me no reason because he didn't owe us one." Topaz continued, "This is his mission, and he chose to take it on his own.".

The others were silent and looked at each other. Steven looked back to Topaz with a sorry look.

"Did he say anything else?" He asked.

"He gave me an order. To make sure nothing bad happens while he's away.".

Taz held Tanza a bit to make her feel at least a bit more comfort.

"If he's so worried, then why did he leave?" The purple gem asked.

Topaz placed his hand on her shoulder.

"He knows we have a big fight. A looming threat that we've had to think about and fear for a long time. But he also knows that the other gems can easily turn into another one. He wants to end something before it begins. Besides...he has faith that we can do this without him." He promised.

"Then we should stop worrying about him and get to work finding Feldspar's base and ending this." Jasper interjected.

They looked towards the giant orange gem. She and the other Homeworld gems were staring with menacing glares.

"Once we solve that problem, we can take care of this one." Heliodor stated.

"She will only complicate things for all of us. If we can at least distract her while Tourmaline is on his own quest, you can at least keep Pyrite away for a while." Fluorite added.

"Besides...that brat isn't the type to just roll over and die." Jasper stated sternly.

The others were silent, but Garnet couldn't help but chuckle.

"For once we agree on something." She laughed.

Jasper frowned.

"Don't expect this to be a common occurrence." She shot back.

Steven clapped his hands and had a confident smirk on his face.

"Alright! Let's take down Feldspar so we can take home Tourmaline!" He shouted.

/**/

Tourmaline quietly strolled through the ruins of the kindergarten. He silently walked through the destroyed breeding ground and to the warp pad. He leaped up to the ridge that held the pad, and then warped away from the desolate area.

He then arrived back at the floating islands. He ran to the edge of the island and looked down upon the world. He walked along the side of the ridge while scanning for the forest he found Tsavorite in. After a moment, he saw it. He leaped off the pad and morphed his arms to wings. He dove through the air like a falcon dive-bombing it's prey, piercing through clouds like a bullet as he descended to his destination. As he approached the forest, he noticed the destroyed canopy where he made his original entrance. He morphed his arms back to normal, broke through a few scraggly branches and landed with a loud thud. Mud and water flew in every which way from his point of impact. The green gem slowly raised to a full stance, scanned his surroundings and noticed the dry patch he had rushed through. With lightning speed, he dashed off of the island and went sprinting off through the forest. A minute had passed and he then skidded to a stop in front of Tsavorite's den.

He brushed the vines masking the entrance aside and rushed inside. He saw the hole he fell down and jumped into the darkness. He made it to the bottom and looked around to see if there was any sign of his target. It seemed empty. Tourmaline jogged over to the spot where Green Diamond's shard was kept, but the hole was empty.

"Seems that she wasn't interested in staying." He thought.

He turned away from the indent in the wall and rushed over to the opposite side of the chamber. The green gem rushed over to the dark lake and leaped into it. With a loud splash, he sank to the bottom like a stone. His gems illuminated the murky deep. A few cave fish could be seen swimming near him, curious of the odd new creature. Tourmaline looked around and discovered a tunnel. He smirked to himself and trudged through the water. As he moved forward, the tunnel became more narrow. The terrain slanted upwards and Tourmaline trudged up. Eventually he was stopped by a wall of solid stone. The boy looked up to see another tunnel and the faint shimmer of light. He began to swim up to the surface.

The speckled light of sunshine piercing through thick foliage graced his face. The area he appeared had a giant stone behind him, blocking the water from moving any further. He swam over to the shoreline, stepping onto the muddy bank and shaking off any excess water.

He walked along the shoreline but stopped when he saw footprints in the mud. He crouched down to observe them. The tracks were rushing ahead in a straight line towards what looked to be an exit out of the forest. It was a faulty one, but Tourmaline found his lead. The green gem rose to his feet and rushed in the direction of the footprints. As he rushed forward, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. Once he reached the edge of the forest, he stopped and looked back. All was still save for a few falling leaves.

"Tch! I shouldn't let my imagination get the best of me. Gotta find her!" He said to himself before rushing across the clear field.

From behind a tree, Chrome Tourmaline came out chuckling. He ran after Tourmaline as fast as he could.

"Whine, complain, monologue, what a tool!" He laughed.

He caught up to Tourmaline and was running next to him. Tourmaline looked to his side to see his doppelganger's mocking grin.

"Hey! How bout a race!?" He declared as he moved away.

Tourmaline growled in frustration, but followed him.

"Of all the possible distractions I had to get one of the worst ones!" He thought to himself.

The two gems sped across the field. From the forest, Pyrite stepped into the open.

"Heh heh, guess I can let the brat handle Tourmaline. Now then…" She began to rush where Tourmaline was originally going, "...what are you after little man?".

/**/

Tsavorite was in a deep crater. She looked up to the sky to see the floating islands overhead. She assumed that Yellow Diamond or some other faction had taken hold of the planet, so she was traveling with extreme caution. This along with her encounter the other day had her traveling very slowly, as to avoid potential discovery by some unknown force. All she knew was that she had to find Azurite and Bloodstone before someone found them first. It wasn't safe to hide anymore. As she walked across the bare earth, grasping Green Diamond's shard tightly, she thought of Tourmaline.

She couldn't shake it, but there was something familiar about him. Fighting him was similar to fighting someone else she used to be allies with. But she dismissed the idea, it was impossible. He was probably on another planet, if alive at all. As the black and green gem traversed the great pit, she heard the sound of stones tumbling down the dirt wall. She turned around to see a giant figure looking down at her. She slid the stone into her pocket and glared up at the figure with black eyes.

Suddenly, the stranger bounded off of the edge of the pit high up and came crashing down towards Tsavorite. She dashed back as the being landed with a great impact, sending dirt, rock and dust out in each direction in a giant cloud. The gem waved the dust away to see a giant, black and silver gem staring down at her. Tsavorite's eyes went a bit wide at the sight of such a hulking beast, but her facial expression remained steadfast. Pyrite had a massive grin on her face.

"Yo." The behemoth greeted.

Tsavorite silently glared at her, her hand placed between her gem and her lord's gem shard. Pyrite stared down at her with a cocky expression.

"So you're the one the boy was after? Can't say I'm too impressed." She mocked.

The ancient gem raised an eyebrow.

"The boy?" She repeated.

"Yeah, Tourmaline. You know him?".

She frowned.

"He should be dead." She growled.

"Yes, he should. But that's besides the point. He's looking for you for some reason." She commented, "So if anything, I can use you for bait.".

Tsavorite drew her blade and gripped the shard tightly. She had no idea who this gem was, but she knew she couldn't leave with her alive. Pyrite laughed and summoned her cestus.

"Oh I love doing things the hard way." She joked.

Tsavorite lunged forward and slashed at Pyrite's arm. The monstrous gem took the blow and returned it with a backhand. The black gem flew across the pit and slammed against a rock. She landed on her feet, assuming a defensive stance while Pyrite observed her arm. The attack managed to cut a bit deep into her arm, causing it to bleed chrome. She smiled and looked back to Tsavorite.

"Guess I shouldn't hold back against you huh?" She taunted.

With that, her form was engulfed with silver. The light dispersed and she was now bigger, her silver speckles replaced with black, and the rest of her color was silver. Her eyes were black pools with silver rings dead center. Tsavorite's eyes went wide as a chill ran down her spine.

"I'll let you know that this is me at seventy percent. But don't let this discourage you I intend on having fun with this, so I won't go any higher." Pyrite stated, "But that doesn't mean this will be a wash for you!".

A silver ball formed in her hand and she tossed the explosive blast at Tsavorite. The defending gem responded by swinging her blade in front of her, releasing a wall of black and green flame before leaping away. It absorbed the blast but the resulting explosion of black, silver and green. Pyrite looked up to see her target swooping down towards her. She held her crossed arms upwards to block the oncoming slash. As Tsavorite rushed towards the giant, her sword geared to slash at her, she noticed the block. When she made it to her, she reached her hand out and flipped over the giant gem. Confused by the change in tactics, Pyrite turned to face Tsavorite, but was greeted with a slash to her face. The silver gem moved her face, narrowly avoiding her eyes being slashed, but instead having a shallow line form from her cheek across her upper lip to the other cheek. Tsavorite glared up at her, anticipating an attack, but Pyrite was still.

"Was the attack enough to frighten her?" She silently hoped.

Pyrite's serious expression formed into another smirk, chrome blood slowly dripping across her lips.

"Going for the eyes? That's not very nice. At least Tourmaline knows how to have a fair and fun fight." She claimed.

"Why do you keep talking about him like that? Is he an ally of yours?" Tsavorite asked.

Pyrite scowled.

"I want nothing more than to see that bastard tortured and killed in the worst possible way, but I can respect him enough as a fighter. He downed me once, and I will make sure that he suffers for that." Pyrite explained.

Tsavorite was confused. A foe this threatening was downed by that brat she nearly killed? How was that possible? But then she recollected the viciousness that he suppressed against her. This gem must have unleashed that in some way.

"Oh why am I boring you with this prattle? Let's get back to killing!" The silver giant shouted.

She thrust both of her fist down at the little gem, but Tsavorite's reflexes allowed her to dodge the blow. Pyrite moved her hand over her other arm and launched a quick ball of energy at the still floating gem. The black ball exploded and launched Tsavorite a few meters away. The black gem landed into an offensive stance and rushed back towards Pyrite. She couldn't afford to play it defensive, her power was too great. The green and black gem slashed wildly at her giant opponent, but the foe was able to block half of the attacks, with the other half only resulting in shallow cuts.

Pyrite grinned and grabbed her by the head. She lifted the smaller gem and swung her overhead, slamming her head into the ground. Tsavorite twitched in pain. She could feel the back of her head bleeding, but she could still move. Pyrite aimed her open palm at the helpless gem's body and a black ball began to form in her hand. Tsavorite rolled out of the way of the blast and got to her knees. She slashed at Pyrite's leg, cutting deeper than her other efforts, and the giant growled in anger. She reached to grab Tsavorite again, but the nimble gem dodged the massive hand with a jump. The black gem landed on her enemy's arm and slashed at it. A line of chrome spurted from Pyrite's bicep.

"Grah! Annoying little bitch!" The silver gem roared out as she reached for her target once again.

Tsavorite leaped away and scowled at her opponent. She could feel green blood leaking from the back of her head, down her hair and dripping onto her back, but she didn't care. Pyrite had an expression of pure, black rage on her face. Two silver orbs formed in her hands. She screamed out as she unleashed a flurry of energy bombs. Tsavorite did her best to dodge and deflect whatever attack she could, but it she couldn't keep up with the rate of fire Pyrite was producing. Eventually she was peppered with a few silver balls, knocking her down on her back.

Pyrite breathed heavily as the dust began to settle. She looked to see Tsavorite get back up to her feet, supporting herself with her sword. The cruel gem smiled, satisfied with the burns she inflicted on her opponent. Tsavorite was back on her feet, clutching her blade tightly and gritting her teeth. Pyrite was loosening her right arm up while walking towards Tsavorite.

"That was a cute start, but let's be serious now. Round two." She declared.

/**/

Tourmaline was chasing Chrome Tourmaline towards a deep gulch in the ground, gradually catching up to his distracting clone. As they approached the edge, Tourmaline leaped forward and tackled the dark green gem into the hole. They struggled in the air to get the other to slam into some form of rock, but the two merely bounded down the dirt slope. They reached the bottom with Chrome throwing his original off of him. Tourmaline landed on his feet as his sneering mirrored foe summoned his blades.

"Alright, you may have won the race but there's no way you'll win the fight. The way it was going last time is proof enough of that." He boasted.

"You're acting like a quick fight where I was distracted mattered." Tourmaline shot back as he formed his grieves.

The two long twin blades shot out from the psychopathic gem's bracelets.

"You can't be serious. Face it, you're completely outclassed! I'm only three weeks old and I've already exceeded you! I'm the best of you, and the best of Pyrite. Just imagine how strong I'll be when I'm your age." Chrome guffawed.

Tourmaline responded with a stoic look.

"You're just a muddled mixture formed by inferior craftsmanship. Now shut up and come at me, I'm tired of seeing my face on that repulsive body of yours.".

The clone charged forward with the intent to kill, and Tourmaline responded with a few kicks releasing a couple green balls of energy. Chrome Tourmaline slashed them in half, but was greeted by Tourmaline in his face. The boy punched his taller self in the stomach and then followed up with a kick to the head. Chrome Tourmaline blocked the kick with his brace and headbutted Tourmaline. The light green gem stumbled back but regained his composure to dodge the blade being thrust toward his stomach. The boy grabbed his clone's arm and threw him over his shoulder. Chrome Tourmaline flew some tens of feet before landing back on his feet.

"Not bad Tourmaline…" He said as he turned around, rushing back towards Tourmaline, "For an obsolete wretch!

Tourmaline kicked at him, but the crazed gem deflected the kick with both of his blades. Tourmaline's foot was thrown to the ground, and Chrome Tourmaline immediately slashed at his opponent's torso. A line of emerald green formed across Tourmaline's orange tank top. Tourmaline punched his enemy in the face, but the dark green gem took it in stride.

"You call that an attack!?" He shouted.

A blade penetrated Tourmaline's stomach. A bit of green leaked from the corners of his mouth, and more came out as Chrome Tourmaline thrust his other blade into Tourmaline's stomach. He lifted the gem upwards so that his own weight would cause him to slide down the blades. Chrome Tourmaline's crazed face was right in Tourmaline's pained one. Tourmaline coughed in his face, a splat of green covering the clone's nose and mouth.

"Shh, just let it go. You'll make for great testing material. Just die knowing that you helped create the ultimate being." The sadistic gem said as he felt Tourmaline's stomach sink onto his clenched fists.

Tourmaline lowered his head in frustration. It was just like last time with Tsavorite. Only this time, he knows what it means. He knows exactly what he is. He shouldn't deny it, just not let it consume him. Rather, it would consume his enemies.

"I...I…" Tourmaline whispered.

Chrome Tourmaline got a bit closer to Tourmaline's face.

"What? Speak up? I can't hear you beg.".

Tourmaline didn't miss his opportunity. He opened his jaws as wide as possible and bit his opponent's face. Chrome Tourmaline screamed out in pain as he started to thrash in Tourmaline's mouth. His teeth sunk into the skin of his face and embedded themselves in his skull. Chrome Tourmaline closed his eyes as he lowered Tourmaline down onto the ground. He didn't want to see the inside of his foe's mouth. Tourmaline grabbed onto Chrome Tourmaline's shoulders to stop him from thrashing too much. He bit down harder, in an attempt to crack his doppelganger's skull. Chrome Tourmaline let his weapons fade away so he could push Tourmaline off of him. Tourmaline skidded on the ground a few feet, with two green holes in his shirt. He stopped bleeding, but the holes were still there. His eyes were emerald green once again, and his mouth was stained silver.

Chrome Tourmaline was mortified. He touched his face to feel the wet sensation of blood. All around his eye and forehead, Tourmaline managed to scrape away a layer of skin from his clone's forehead , revealing a silver, bloody dome underneath. Chrome Tourmaline looked back at his monstrous opponent with a newly kindled rage.

"You freaking maniac! I'll kill you slowly for this!" He promised.

Tourmaline licked his lips and charged forward. To his opponent's terror, he realized that his weapons weren't out. Tourmaline was upon him, and kicked right into his stomach. The blades of his shoe raced down to the sole before the blow hit, allowing them to break through Chrome Tourmaline's hard hide and sink into his soft stomach. The dark green gem flew back and a stream of silver followed him to the ground. Tourmaline leaped up into the air and dived downwards towards his downed opponent. His bladed foot pierced through skin and bone, with the resulting blow breaking Chrome Tourmaline's leg. The clone screamed out in pain, but saw his leg begin to glow green. In the next second, it blew up like a balloon filled with silver paint. He continued to yell, only to be silenced by Tourmaline stomping on his mouth.

"What's the matter? You're everything I am but better right? Then unleash your true potential and fight me for real!" Tourmaline demanded.

He lifted his foot from Chrome Tourmaline's face, revealing that he stomped some teeth out of his mouth and then pinned him down by the chest with another stabbing stomp.

"What...the hell are you talking about!?" Chrome Tourmaline yelled.

"What I'm talking about is abandon the useless defense! Give it all up and unleash your power! I did, and look at me!" The blooddrunk boy shouted.

"I...what are you...what!?" Chrome Tourmaline was trying desperately to piece together what Tourmaline was talking about.

Tourmaline clawed at his face, leaving three large gashes from where his nails raked into his skin. He bled, but he still had a sadistic look on his face.

"I don't need to heal! I have the power to crush whatever I want! Who cares if it comes with a little pain when I can bring it back tenfold!?" He shouted in his prisoner's face.

"I...you...what the fuck!?" Chrome Tourmaline cried.

"Come on! Do it already! Do it! Do it! Do it!" Tourmaline ordered as he began to stomp and kick his helpless opponent. He kept going until Chrome Tourmaline was reduced to a bloody pulp, and eventually poofed away.

Tourmaline was surprised by this. His smile faded into an irritated frown. He looked down to see the defeated gem's stones. He fell to his hands &amp; knees and started to breathe heavily.

"Come on now...bring it back. Keep it together. Fight's over." Tourmaline whispered to himself.

The boy felt like he was about to wretch something up, but the sensation slowly began to fade. His eyes returned to their normal state and he felt like himself once again. He rolled over onto his back and took a few deep breaths. As he regained his sanity and stamina, he saw an odd shape fly overhead. It was Ametrine's cruiser. Tourmaline got back up to his feet and looked to see that the ship was flying slowly over the landscape as if it were searching for something.

Amidst the silence, Tourmaline heard the faint sound of explosions in the distance. He was about to rush towards the source of the noise, but he stopped to look at Chrome Tourmaline's gems. He picked up the two stones in both of his hands and looked down at them. He frowned and squeezed them tightly. The two stones turned to dust in his iron grip.

"I am the only me in this or any other world." He said to himself.

He turned around and started to climb out of the deep crater to find the source of the noise and maybe what Ametrine might be after.

/**/

Tsavorite cried out in pain as she was batted away from Pyrite. She rolled across the ground and Pyrite leaped up. The black gem looked up to see the monster come crashing down on her. She scrambled to her feet and ran away from the meteor-like impact. The injured gem's vision was starting to get blurry. The giant gem rushed forward to attack, the first punch dodged by Tsavorite jumping back, but the next punch tore through the side of her leg. Tsavorite was spun around due to the attack, but was then knocked away by a spiked backhand. She rolled across the ground, losing her grip on her sword.

Pyrite grinned, but her confident expression faltered when the sparkle of an object caught her eye. She turned her attention to the shining light and noticed a green gem shard. Pyrite picked it up and observed it.

"Hm, now this is some high quality stuff." She commented, "What're you doing with this?".

Tsavorite panicked as she noticed that her master's shard was torn away from her. Pure adrenaline, rage and devotion flooded her body. She roared out in anger as she got up to her feet and ran towards Pyrite. She picked up her sword and black and green flames engulfed the blade. She leaped towards Pyrite, sword primed to strike downwards at Pyrite's skull. Pyrite slipped the stone into her pocket and smiled. As the dark gem swung her sword down, the giant swatted the blade away and then grabbed her head with both hands.

"Nevermind. I got all the info I want." She said as she lifted her opponent's body up to then slam her head against her knee in a violent motion.

Tsavorite's skull was jelly at this point, as the poor gem twitched in pain as she laid on the ground, her face nearly smashed in as a flood of black blood leaked from her mouth, nose and eyes. Pyrite lifted the gem by her shirt, claiming the broken body as her trophy.

"You'll make perfect fodder for Feldspar's experiments." She stated.

"I'd...ra...rather...die than t-to be...a part of Yellow Diamond's faction...in any way!" The broken gem sputtered.

Pyrite grinned.

"That can be arranged. You're not a priority case anyway, not like Tourmaline." Pyrite said as she charged up another attack, "And I have that shard of yours, that should be good enough for her.".

She placed her charged palm on Tsavorite's side, let the blast charge up even more, but her arm was moved by an attack, letting the blast whiz behind her victim. Pyrite looked over her shoulder to see Jet and Topaz glaring at her. Pyrite frowned and tossed Tsavorite aside. She faced the two of them with a scowl.

"The rest of you maggots here?" She asked.

"M-maybe." Jet stuttered.

"You're a horrible liar." The monstrous gem retorted.

Topaz inched closer to Jet.

"Remember the plan. I'll put Tsavorite somewhere safe so Tourmaline can find her, we book it out of here and let the homeworld gems take care of Pyrite." He whispered.

"And Garnet?" Jet asked.

"She's going to speak with Tourmaline. If all goes well we'll just be able to run with our tails between our legs." Topaz stated as he twirled his sai.

Pyrite slowly advanced forward and the two gems stepped back.

"What were you two whispering about?" She asked.

"Just about how Tourmaline is gonna slaughter your ass when he gets the chance. He killed that cheap imitation of yours, and you'll be next." Topaz growled.

Pyrite's grin faded away.

"What? But he could handle me at fifty percent...the two of them could've only been fighting for three or five minutes...did he catch him off guard?" She thought.

"Heh, that shook you up didn't it?" Topaz said as he began to twirl his sai faster.

"Shut up! I'll kill the bastard before he can get me!" She retorted.

Jet grinned.

"So you're saying that he might get you?" She taunted.

Pyrite roared out as she charged at the two of them. Jet turned away as Topaz let his two spinning sai connect, creating a flashbang. Pyrite roared out in pain as she was blinded. Jet then let out a torrent of fog, as much as she could generate. While she puked her smog, Topaz rushed over to Tsavorite and rushed over to a hole in the crater. The pale gem placed the wounded gem inside of the hole and moved a giant rock over to block the hole.

"Tourmaline fill find you. Stay here until he does." He ordered.

Jet closed her mouth. The smokescreen was complete, and Pyrite was still recovering from the flashbang. She rushed over to the side of the crater to escape and Topaz ran to meet up with her.

"I won't let you scum escape!" Pyrite shouted as she released dozens of energy balls wildly in all directions.

Rocks were shattered, earth was tore asunder, and one lucky ball hit Jet in the back. She stumbled and started to slide back down the steep crater. Topaz turned around to see his ally fall back into the lion's pit, and rushed down to save her.

Pyrite's vision came back to her, and the force of the blasts dissipated the field of fog. She turned around to see the two gems and smiled. Jet got back to her feet using her blade as a crutch with Topaz helping her out. Their desperate expressions faded into horror as they saw Pyrite running towards them. Topaz got in between Jet and the charging beast, rushing forward towards Pyrite to buy his ally enough time to escape. However the mighty gem smacked him aside, hitting left gem hard enough to crack in the process. He bounded against the ground and rolled a bit. He painfully raised his head to see Pyrite grab Jet by the head and slam her into the ground.

"Stop!" He shouted as he tried to get to his feet.

Meanwhile, Jet felt true terror as the insane gaze of Pyrite was staring down at her. She reared her fist back and shot it straight down towards Jet. Jet raised her sword, bracing it with both hands to block the attack, but the might punch was enough to break through the tempered blade...and allow the spikes of her cestus pierce her gem. Jet didn't cry out in pain, she didn't roar out, she didn't make a sound. She just had a shocked and confused expression on her face. She knew this was supposed to hurt, but she didn't feel anything. She could still see, she could still hear the sound of Pyrite's spikes tearing themselves out of her flesh and stone, but all other senses were numbed.

"What…? That wasn't...supposed to…" She stammered, her following words went silent as her mouth moved.

Pyrite grinned and raised her foot up. Topaz tackled her other leg and tripped up the monster gem. A foolish act that only delayed the inevitable. Pyrite grabbed Topaz by the throat and glared at him. He could feel himself slipping away as she tightly squeezed his head and neck.

"You pathetic little wretches. Did you really think that stupid strategy could've fooled me? You clods deserve to die for that. I'll be doing your side a favor by getting rid of you." Pyrite stated.

"Tch...it doesn't matter. We've set you and your psychotic leader's destruction in place. Tsavorite is still alive...and that means she has the key to your destruction." He claimed.

Pyrite chuckled.

"Oh, you mean this?" Pyrite fished into her pocket and revealed Green Diamond's shard.

Topaz remained steadfast at the sight of the stone.

"That isn't it. That's just a chunk of stone from this stupid Earth you dumb bitch!" He yelled.

Pyrite frowned and placed the shard into her pocket.

"I know you're trying to trick me." she growled, "And I'm tired of your games. Die now!".

She stomped on Jet's chest, further fracturing her gem and causing her to spit up grey blood. The sadistic gem let Topaz fall from her grip only to immediately slam both of his side gems in a vicious clap. Topaz coughed up yellow blood as his left gemstone shattered and the other was badly fractured. He fell to his knees with a lifeless look on his face. Pyrite grinned she turned away from the two dying gems. Topaz used the last ounces of his strength to jump onto Pyrite's leg. The giant glared down at Topaz, but before she could remove him from her leg, she was distracted by the sound of a whirring engine.

Pyrite looked up at the sky to see a giant homeworld ship approaching the crater. She scowled at the ship, knowing it was the Homeworld scum after her and her mother. Topaz slumped of of her leg and the giant gem leaped out of the crater. She couldn't risk fighting a platoon and a warship at the same time, not with an important specimen on her. The ship slowly pursued the fleeing gem, leaving Jet and Topaz in their broken states. Topaz laid face first in the dirt, slowly rotating his head to look at his hand. His lips curled into a smile as he saw that he managed to nick the shard from Pyrite's pocket while she was distracted. He was lucky he got a second chance to steal it back.

/**/

Five Minutes Earlier…

As Tourmaline ran to the crater Ametrine's ship was racing off towards, he tripped over himself and fell to the ground. He gasped and groaned as he got back up to his feet. He still wasn't completely recovered from his battle with Chrome Tourmaline, but he couldn't let that stop him. He slowly stumbled to his feet, but began to wan and weave. He took a deep breath and looked forward, convincing himself that he had regained his composure.

"Tourmaline!" A smooth, familiar voice called out.

Tourmaline turned around to see Garnet staring him down. He heaved a heavy sigh as he faced his mentor.

"Why are you here? Did Topaz squeal?" He asked.

"He told us that you left, and not to interfere...but I saw something that would've completely derailed your quest. I had to come and help you out with that...but nothing more." She explained to him.

"Derailed? And what do you mean by that?".

She walked over to him until she was a mere foot in front of him. She looked down at him and he looked up to her concerned expression.

"You're right to think that you should do this alone. These gems are your people, they are technically bonded to your father for life, and thus now to you. Any of us intruding or following you would be selfish and could jeopardize everything for you. But I saw a vision...a vision of Tsavorite dying." Garnet took her shades off to show Tourmaline the concern in her eyes, "And I saw you...enraged and different. Like...you know. I couldn't let that happen. So we helped you out for only this.".

Tourmaline continued looking up at her with a determined stare. He was antsy to make it to the crater the ship was going, but if anything, this moment helped him recover his strength. Garnet leaned in closer to Tourmaline's face.

"The rest is up to you Tourmaline. We have our fight, but it's also yours. So finish your quest as soon as possible so we can finish this together.".

She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. Tourmaline looked at her with a confused stare.

"Why did you do that?" He asked.

"For your protection." She answered.

She backed away from him and phased her shades back onto her face.

"We all believe in you. Good luck." She said.

With that, Garnet leaped away from Tourmaline. The boy was still bewildered by the conversation, but he felt happy that he got to talk to Garnet one last time before he was truly alone again. He turned around to see the ship flying across the crater he wanted to investigate with a shadowy figure running away from the area. He regained his serious composure and rushed over to find Tsavorite and continue his quest.

/**/

Tourmaline arrived at the edge of the crater and looked down to see the horrific aftermath. Any sense of confidence and courage crumbled away when he noticed his friend's lifeless bodies down in the dirt. He rushed down the side of the pit so quickly he almost tripped and rolled the rest of the way. He stumbled at the bottom and fell to his hands and knees. He looked to the side with a panicked expression and quickly crawled over to her and cradled the bloody gem in his arms. He looked down to see what little of her gem remained. She coughed up a bit more blood on herself and looked over at Tourmaline's face.

"Stay calm Jet! I can bring you to Steven! I can let this wait just a few more hours. Just hang in there!" He shouted.

Jet's eyes had tears streaming lazily down her cheeks as she used the last of her strength to reach out to Tourmaline's face. She caressed his cheek, attempted to say something to no avail, and then disappeared, leaving only a pile of black dust. He scraped the dust up to see if there was anything left of her, anything that could be used to revive her, but that pile was all that was left of one of his best friends. He gripped the black powder in his hands, but was brought back to horrific reality when he remembered there being two bodies.

"Tour...maline.." Topaz groaned.

Tourmaline rushed over to his friend's side and flipped him over, cradling him in his arms in the same manner he did with Jet. Topaz smiled at his former student as he felt his life fade away with each second.

"Topaz...don't tell me Ametrine and her crew did this to you." Tourmaline said.

Topaz chuckled.

"What? Of course not man…" He responded.

"It was her...wasn't it?" The green gem seethed.

Topaz winced in pain.

"Yeah...we distracted her long enough to save Tsavorite...she's over there…" Topaz pointed over to the hole in the crater masked by the rock he moved, "We tried to escape...but she caught us out of our plan...we aren't stupid enough to fight her head on.".

"I...I should've been here...Garnet should have been here!" Tourmaline growled.

"Tch...don't be dumb. What would've happened if you or her would've gotten here before us, or...even with us? We all would...be dead." He stated.

"Don't say that! You have a chance to survive." Tourmaline argued.

"Heh...fraid not buddy." Topaz motioned his head to have Tourmaline look down to see both of Topaz's gems shattered. Tourmaline looked back at his face with tears welling up in his eyes. Helplessness sinking into his soul as his oldest friend was dying and there was nothing he could do.

"Listen Tourmaline...I stole this back...from her." Topaz moved his arm to hand Tourmaline Green Diamond's shard.

Tourmaline took it in his hands and looked back at Topaz to see his pained expression.

"Topaz!" Tourmaline cried out.

"This is it...but listen Tourmaline...it's Pyrite. She may act like...a godlike badass, but the truth is she's scared." He admitted.

"What? Of Green Diamond?" The green gem wondered.

Topaz coughed.

"No...of you Tourmaline! Don't you see? Pyrite is getting desperate and making sure...our side has as few possible allies because you're there too...you're getting stronger than she imagined. Any of us imagined." Topaz answered.

Tourmaline looked at Topaz with a stern, stone faced look on his face. Topaz knew that his last few seconds were winding down, so he had to make his last words matter to Tourmaline. He smiled at Tourmaline.

"You've...exceeded...all expectations I've...ever had for you. I'm sorry...that...I can't...s...see…" He strained, and then was no more.

Tourmaline remained kneeling down. A part of him died with Topaz and Jet. The dust of the former gem's gemstones blew away with a breeze. Tourmaline closed his eyes as tears graced his cheeks.

"Good-bye Topaz...you were my best friend." He admitted.

Tourmaline got up to his feet, clutching his diamond's shard so tightly that the jagged edges dug into his hand. His hand was bleeding, but he didn't care. He wiped the tears from his eyes and walked over to Tsavorite's apparent hiding spot. He trudged with each step as thoughts of regret, hate and remorse flooded his mind.

"This can't go on anymore...my friends...my family. Jet...Topaz...Sapphire...Tanzanite… Ruby...that monster! This is the last time... no one else will die. I promise you...I promise all of you, I'll crush that bitch and end this all! We won't grieve anymore!" He shouted in his head.

Tourmaline stopped in front of the rock and placed his hand on the giant stone. Before he could move it, he saw a flash of white, and then he saw a vision of himself arching his back in pain in this exact area with a gem destabilizer in his back. He was brought back to reality and then dodged to the side. He saw the destabilizer from his vision bounce against the stone. He grabbed it and snapped the sparking thing in half.

"What was that...what was any of that!?" He thought.

Tourmaline snapped out of his delusion to look over and see Ametrine, Chalcedony, Carnelian and Morganite staring him down. Ametrine had a twisted grin on her face.

"Heh heh, I knew there was something special to back to the ship here." Ametrine said to the others.

Tourmaline silently placed the green shard in front of the rock and looked back at the other gems.

"I'm not in the mood to play games with you right now." He said calmly, "Leave now, and I won't shatter you.".

Ametrine and Morganite chuckled.

"Don't be a dumbass. You barely won your fight against my lovely leader one on one, but now she's got the best of the best here to back her up. We're prepared to take down Pyrite, so a little clod like you doesn't got a chance." The pink gem taunted.

Tourmaline took of his jacket and cracked his neck.

"Pity, and I was prepared to kick all of your asses." He retorted.

Morganite scowled in response as Carnelian stepped forward.

"Surrender now and we'll treat you a little more pleasantly. If Topaz sees something in you than maybe we can use you to coax him back to the right side." She suggested.

Tourmaline felt a twinge in his eye, but he didn't let loose just yet.

"That angle isn't going to work. Topaz is dead." He said bluntly. The words echoed in his mind, and it continued to fuel his rage.

Carnelian's professional demeanor was shattered as Tourmaline dropped that bomb. She looked around in a frantic motion but managed to see what little remained of Topaz's gemstones in the distance. She continued looking in that direction, but collapsed to her knees. She closed her eyes and resisted the urge to cry. Not in front of her allies. Not in front of the enemy. She grit her teeth, balled up her fists and opened her eyes.

"What did you do to him?" She asked before getting back to her feet and facing Tourmaline, "WHAT DID YOU DO!?".

"I did nothing, Pyrite killed him. We have a mutual interest in killing her, but she's mine and mine alone. So let me say this one last time, turn the hell around and escape this pit with your lives!" He threatened.

"You don't give orders, I do! Kill him!" The red gem screamed.

Tourmaline made the first move and charged forward, grieves forming on his legs as he ran forward. The four gems leaped away forming, with three of them forming a triangle around Tourmaline while Chalcedony was above him. She fished out several small blue orbs and dropped them to the ground, and then formed two shocking blue boomerangs from her gem. She threw them towards the bombs causing a massive explosion of blue light to come forth. Dust and light contorted and enveloped each other while the others grinned at the success of their trap.

"Tch, stupid brat." Chalcedony commented.

Her confident smirk disappeared when she saw Tourmaline leap up from the smoke. His leg was raised up at a near ninety degree angle, and his bladed heel came crashing down on the blue gem's skull like a guillotine. The Homeworld gem's head burst into a sea blue geyser as Tourmaline's kick tore it asunder. The other gems looked on in terror as he and their ally's gem came falling back down to the ground. The three of them charged forward, Ametrine and Morganite armed with destabilizers. Tourmaline's leg began to glow and he released another ball of energy towards the ground. The resulting blast created another smokescreen of dust. The three gems stopped in front of where Tourmaline would've landed, but the nimble gem managed to stealthily move before they could make it to him. A trick that his mentor taught him was still helping him. The other gems began to fan out to find him.

"Grrr, where the hell did he go?" Carnelian seethed.

"You can't hide forever scum!" Morganite called out.

As Tourmaline glided across the ground to pick out his potential prey, visions flashed in his head once more. One of him attacking Ametrine but being countered. Another of him striking Carnelian but being attacked shortly after. Then one of Morganite, and only her being surprised. The odd sixth sense he gained pointed out his perfect target. He rushed forward towards Morganite and the pink gem spun around to see him in grabbing distance from her. He batted away her destabilizer, covered her mouth with one hand and started squeezing her throat with the other. The pink gem could barely move, the force he was exerting on her face and neck was unbearable, and she fell to her knees.

Ametrine walked in a circle, constantly looking all directions to spot any sign of her target.

"Grrr… Tourmaline!" She roared out.

She turned to see the outline of his body in the cloud and her frustrated expression shifted into a devilish grin.

"There you are." She whispered to herself.

She took her destabilizer and threw it towards the figure. However the outline leaped away from the attack. Her irritation quickly shifted to a shocked feeling as a burst of light came from her tossed destabilizer.

The dust settled and she was Morganite falling to pieces before poofing into her gem.

"Damn it all! He'll pay for making me hurt one of my lovelies!" She growled.

Carnelian moved to her side as the dust continued to settle. Once it was finally gone, they saw Tourmaline staring them down from a distance with a grin on his face.

"He's taken two of us down so easily with such simple methods...I can see why Topaz saw so much in him. Better be careful now." Carnelian stated.

"Be careful!? We don't need caution, we need action!" The purple gem summoned her two tonfas, "Now let's crush him!".

The two rushed forward and Tourmaline ran forward as well. As Ametrine punched and slammed and Carnelian stabbed and kicked, Tourmaline dodged each attack while visions of him being impaled, pulverized or destabilized flashed in front of him like a horrid fever dream. He still managed to keep his wits about him and dodge and block each attack his opponents were throwing at him. However he made a misstep and Ametrine slugged him across the jaw. He slowly began to fall and Carnelian was moving in for the kill. Tourmaline thought quickly and grabbed Ametrine's tonfa and yanked her forward. As he regained his footing, the red gem's stab hit the wrong target. Her foil's needle piercing through Ametrine's upper thigh. She let out a cry of pain as Tourmaline then spun around, his leg once again glowing as he kicked Ametrine's side. The blade of his shoe pierced through her skin like a hot knife through butter, and the force behind his kick coupled with the tearing in her side allowed Tourmaline to tear her in half. Carnelian looked to the side to see Tourmaline's glowing shin coming closer to her face, and her ally being turned into a golden fountain. The last thing she saw was a flash of green.

"Topaz…" She thought.

The energy blast from Tourmaline's leg blew her head off, and her gem fell to the ground.

"That was great way for me to work out this rage. Thanks for that." He said.

Tourmaline clutched his chest and started to breathe heavily again. Two major fights in one day were taking their toll on him. He was glad that it was all over at this point.

"So these guys were packing enough firepower to incapacitate Pyrite? No wonder she's so scared of me." He thought.

He turned around, but to his surprise he saw Tsavorite staring him down, sword in both hands with the shard at her feet.

"You won't...take her away." She called out.

Tourmaline could tell that she was badly injured, so he started to walk over to her calmly, his weapons disappearing as he approached her.

"I'm not here to fight Tsavorite. I know who you are, I know what that is...I know all about Green Diamond!" He called out.

She raised her blade high up, and slashed it forward, producing a wave of green and black energy. Tourmaline was caught off guard by the sudden burst of energy and the blast nearly tore him asunder. It blew up and he fell backwards, a large burn line left on his torso. Tsavorite dropped her sword and fell to her feet.

"Slowed him down...now to move." She thought as she moved to pick up the shard.

To her horror, Tourmaline was already back on his feet and running towards her. She scrambled to grab the shard and brought it close to her chest and curled up around it. It was the best she could do, there was no way that she could escape him in her condition. The sound of him running towards her stopped and she expected more punishment to come, but it didn't. All was silent for seconds as Tourmaline stared down at her.

"You probably won't believe what I have to say, but we need to get out of here so I can talk to you about everything. As I said, I know about Green Diamond, and I want to help." He explained.

"I don't believe you!" She shouted, "Green Diamond is dead! Yellow Diamond and the other diamonds destroyed her! Every gem should know that!" She screamed.

"Not every gem. Outside of you, Bloodstone and Azurite, there's another gem that knows the truth.".

The black and green gem stopped tensing up and slowly slipped out of the fetal position. She struggled to sit up, but managed to turn and look at Tourmaline with a curious stare thanks to his assistance.

"How do you know about them?" She asked, "Have you captured them?".

"No, but I know I need your help to find two of them. As for the fourth…".

Tourmaline's body was engulfed in green energy. Defusing was a very odd experience for him, but it was the best way to get Tsavorite on his side. His gemstones contorted and shifted into their original forms, and he divided into two separate gems. To Tsavorite's surprise, her long lost companion Jade and his lover Aquamarine appeared before him.

"It's good that you got acquainted with my son." Jade said.

All of the fear and pain Tsavorite felt was immediately numbed. She felt tears of joy well in her eyes as she looked up at Jade.

"You're...you're…" She repeated.

Jade crouched down and picked her up.

"We have a lot to tell you." Jade said, "But here is not the place.".

"We'll go back to the cave and hide there." Aquamarine stated.

/**/

Day faded to night as Garnet sat on the warp pad home. A tear fell down from beneath her visor as she realized that her allies were not coming home. She got to her feet and walked onto the warp pad. As the light of the warp pad carried her back home, she felt the sense of powerlessness and grief well up in her stomach. She wanted to blame herself, she wanted to say that she wanted to say to hell with Tourmaline' s pride and bring everyone, but she knew that either way something awful was going to happen whether or not she interfered or stopped it all together. This was the best option where there was the lowest chance that someone would die, and Tourmaline's quest could still continue, but it still ended in tragedy. She just prayed that Tsavorite at least survived, or their sacrifice was all for nothing.

When she made it home, Steven rushed in front of Garnet with a glowing smile on his face.

"Garnet! Garnet! You won't believe it! We know where Feldspar is now!" He declared.

Buergerite stepped forward with the key to her drones in her hand.

"Your tip about the Homeworld ship and Pyrite was dead on. One of them has tracked Pyrite all the way to an underground chasm and to what no doubt has to be Feldspar's base. We can charge in at anytime and take them down." The grey gem stated.

Garnet just stared at her allies. She wanted to be happy, she wanted to be a leader and get everyone ready to go off, but she couldn't feel it in the midst of the tragedy. Steven's smile faded as the other gems started to gather around her. Even Jasper moved towards the group, but still kept her distance. Taz was the first to step forward.

"Garnet...where's Topaz?" The little gem asked.

Pearl and Amethyst could tell something happened. Garnet never acted like this. Obsidian was the next to move forward.

"And where's Jet?" The large gem asked.

The tall fusion was still silent. Steven inched a bit closer to her and looked straight up at her face.

"Garnet?".

/**/

Feldspar was staring at a large crystal tank with various wires and terminals linked up to the metallic base. In the center of it, Charoite was prowling about and growling. The beast was restless, but not aggressive. As she stared at the beast, Liddicoatite rushed into the dark room.

"Master! Is it true!? You're going to cure her now?" She asked.

The cybernetic gem turned around and looked at her with a warm smile.

"Yes my dear. You and your friend will be united again." She promised.

Liddicoatite dropped to her knees and bowed before her master.

"Oh thank you Feldspar thank you!" She cried out.

Feldspar placed her hands on her shoulders and continued looking at her.

"There's just one thing I need for the process to be complete." She said.

The multicolored gem looked up at her with a concerned stare.

"Yes, anything!".

Feldspar's smile jerked into a serious scowl.

"You.".

A green light formed near the the base of the crystal casing and a large opening appeared. Feldspar gripped her subordinate's shoulder's tightly and threw her into the tank. Liddicoatite was thrown into Charoite and the beast hissed in response. The hole disappeared and Feldspar walked over to one of the terminals. She started typing away at the terminal and Liddicoatite rushed over to the transparent wall where Feldspar was working.

"What...what are you doing master? I shouldn't be in here, should I? I'm not corrupted, so why do I-".

"This process might form a conscious gem like you and I, so you definitely need to be in the tank.".

"Might form...what are you saying?" A sense of terror crawled up Liddicoatite's spine.

"This machine has the power to permanently fuse gems together. I want to see what will happen between a normal, functioning gem and a corrupted one." Feldspar explained.

Liddicoatite began to slam her fist against the wall.

"You're using us as test subjects!? This can't work! You're insane!" She shouted.

"Oh but it can work. I've already used it on a couple of our prisoners, and it was a success. So there is a chance that this can work." She said.

The machine began to whirr and various panels around it began to light the room up. The terrified gem brought her tomahawks out and started slashing at the wall, but they did nothing to damage it.

"This is insane! I wanted her to be normal again not...this!" She shouted.

Feldspar still typed away at her panel, but then smirked.

"Oh but you two will be better than normal. You have the potential to become something incredible. And poor Charoite's suffering will finally be over." The grey gem said.

"Not like this you fucking freak!" Liddicoatite screamed out.

The machine was as loud as it could be, and all lights were on. Feldspar chuckled a little.

"Oh come on now. I'm not a freak…" she placed her finger on the activation button, "...but you might be.".

She pressed it, and a second later the tank was filled with bright white light. Charoite roared out in pain while Liddicoatite screeched as loud as possible. Their gems were torn apart by the molecule and started to meld together in Feldspar's twisted generator. As Feldspar smiled at her handy work, Pyrite walked in on her. Feldspar turned around and flashed a terrifying smile.

"Hello dear." She greeted.


	38. Chapter 38: Rage and Loyalty Part 1

Polished Gems #38: Rage and Loyalty Part One

All feelings of hope and optimism had died in the gems' base, quickly replaced with soul shattering grief and blistering rage. Garnet had told the others of what happened on the battlefield, that they succeeded in their mission, but were not coming back home. Black Pearl walked away from the crowd and sat by herself, taking in the news of her comrade's deaths. Tanza was holding an upset Taz as she herself tried her best to appear strong for her small companion. Pearl and Amethyst were doing the same for Steven, who was fighting back the tears of sorrow and frustration. Elbaite's party all were feeling the same sense of grief in the air. They share in their comrades' pain as they felt the same grief not too long ago. Chrysoberyl stared at the others with an empathetic gaze along with Jasper and Lapis from the upstairs. Sardonyx was scowling as she gripped her arm tightly, trying to contain an outburst of anger. Obsidian's arms shook, and she quickly lashed out at Garnet by grabbing her throat. Garnet grabbed Obsidian's arm but the burly gem already lifted her comrade up and charged forward, pushing her up against a wall.

"You knew this was going to happen!" She screamed as her body began to pulse magma red.

"I didn't think it would happen!" Garnet shouted as she started to pry Obsidian's hand from her throat.

"Obsidian! Stop!" Tanza shouted.

"This isn't going to do anything to help!" Sardonyx added.

The burning gem reared her fist back and thrust it towards Garnet's face. Garnet freed herself from Obsidian's grip and dodged the attack. The temple wall cracked from the intensity of the punch. The enraged gem glared down at Garnet, who was holding her hands up defensively.

"Don't do this Obsidian." She warned.

"You know, Tourmaline made me realize that my revenge against you was really stupid. But now, I have a legitimate reason to beat you dow-Grah!" The mighty gem took a few steps toward Garnet before something flew at her, creating a large cloud of dust upon impact.

Sardonyx and Dravite waved away the cloud to see Jasper, donning her war helmet, looking over a downed Obsidian. The flaming gem gnashed her teeth at her new challenger before being lifted by the shirt by the mighty quartz. The orange gem spun around and slammed Obsidian against the wall again. Sardonyx and Steven ran over to the squabble as Jasper punched the hunched over gem. Obsidian leaped up at Jasper but she was tossed back down again. Obsidian got up on one knee, but as she looked up she saw that Sardonyx was now standing in front of her, with Steven standing in front of Jasper.

"That's enough!" Sardonyx roared.

"Fighting isn't going to make this situation any better!" Steven shouted.

"She wasn't being reasonable." Jasper argued.

"So you attacked her!?" The boy yelled.

"She was going to attack Garnet, and she doesn't have the guts to go all out against an ally." The orange quartz rebutted.

Obsidian seethed with anger, but started to take deep breaths. With one final deep inhale, her makes faded to grey and she exhaled a cloud of soot.

"Leave her be Steven. She was just trying to make sure my outburst resulted in...minimal damage." Obsidian admitted.

The boy looked back at the worn out gem and back to Jasper with a less stern stare. Jasper had a grin on her face. She walked around the two interlopers and over to the kneeling gem. She extended her hand out to help her comrade up.

"Save the rage for Pyrite and Feldspar, not her." Jasper ordered.

She nodded and all eyes were back on Garnet.

"So what now?" Amethyst asked.

"We take the night to formulate a plan. Charging into Feldspar's base head first is suicide, so we need to rely on stealth to get in there. The trick is how." Garnet proposed.

Buergerite began to type on her control key.

"I'll work on extracting the data from the probe so we can get a map of the area around the base. There's no telling what's there or not, but at least we can think of a few decent ways of approaching the psycho's home without getting caught, or killed." She declared.

"How long until the probe will come back?" Pearl asked.

"About three hours. Take the time to calm yourselves.".

The gems nodded and gathered around the couch. Amethyst had her hand on Steven's shoulder while the others exchanged depressed glances. Lapis and Chrysoberyl stared down from above the loft.

"Will you choose to fight with them?" Chrysoberyl asked.

The blue gem looked up at her with a confused stare.

"Of course, that's what I've been doing hasn't it?" She retorted.

"No, I mean with them." The golden gem pointed towards Jasper and the Homeworld gems. Lapis became uneasy.

"If you cannot be comfortable knowing that they will rely on you as you rely on them, then you shouldn't be a part of this battle." The golem stated as she moved down the stairs.

Lapis watched as the golden gem descended down the stairs. She shook her head and walked down the stairs to meet with the rest of them. She moved next to Jasper. The great gem looked down at her, but Lapis looked away. She heaved a sigh and looked back to her.

"Can I trust you?" Lapis asked.

"Can I trust you?" Jasper repeated.

Lapis hesitated, averting her gaze. Jasper frowned and was about to turn away, but stopped when she heard the tiny gem's answer.

"Yes." She said.

Jasper gave her a surprised stare. Lapis had a determined expression on her face.

"I trust you to...help us end this, and to make this planet safe again. Feldspar threatens the entire galaxy, and she has to be stopped. I know we can do this together, so let's...let's just end this." Lapis said sternly.

Jasper raised an eyebrow at her and smiled. The two of them looked back at the group to see everyone smiling at them, with Steven particularly beaming. The two of them looked away and decided to walk away from the group.

"Couldn't have picked a better time to say that?" Jasper asked.

"If I didn't say it then I would've never said it at all." Lapis argued.

"This better not be a thing with them.".

"I hope it doesn't.".

The two of them exited to the deck while the others looked at each other.

"They're right ya know. We gotta work together and finish this." Obsidian stated.

Steven nodded.

"And we will!" He exclaimed.

/**/

Tsavorite was leaning against a tree with Jade and Aquamarine looking on at her. Some time had passed and Jade had told her everything. About the thousands of years that went on after she fled, about Rose Quartz, about Feldspar and his son. The green and black gem was mystified by Jade's fantastical stories. Aquamarine was by her side, her hand glowing brightly. The sky blue gem cleaned Tsavorite's arms and face, washing away the blood and sealing her wounds.

"And there you have it. I'd say you're caught up now." Jade stated.

"This...this is too much to take in." Tsavorite admitted.

Aquamarine moved her hand away from Tsavorite's body, which was now healed up.

"It certainly is. But this is how it is now. Times have changed, and so has our alliance." Aquamarine stated.

"Now dear that isn't true. I believe in this planet, and it is my home, but I will always be faithful to my diamond." Jade stated.

The sky blue gem looked over to him.

"I understand, and I'm with you." She smiled.

Tsavorite moved off of the tree and looked up at Jade.

"To think that we were so close for so many centuries." She said.

"Yeah. It's pretty ridiculous, but to be fair I was occupied with a lot of things." Jade chuckled.

The two girls chuckled and Aquamarine walked over to Jade. She placed her hand on his chest and Tsavorite's smile faded away.

"You have to leave already?" She asked.

"Yeah. We accepted our fate a long time ago." Jade said.

"Tourmaline is who we are now." The sky blue gem stated.

Tsavorite squeezed her arm, looking to the side and back to Jade.

"I'll watch over him." She promised.

Jade and Aquamarine smiled.

"Thank you. I'm certain he'll be fine under your care." The blue gem said.

"If and when you see Bloodstone and Azurite, tell them I said good luck. Tourmaline will fill you in on the rest of the details. Goodbye friend." Jade said.

The two gems embraced and their bodies melted into pure light. The two fused together and formed Tourmaline. The boy's dark green skin tanned down by a large degree, giving him more of a brownish green tone. He walked towards her with a steadfast expression on his face.

"So...where do we go from here?" He asked.

Her expression went stern.

"I was on my way to meet with Azurite and Bloodstone. They must be freed from their bubbles.".

"Why did you seal them away in the first place?" Tourmaline asked.

"They couldn't handle being without their diamond for so long, so they asked me to seal them away. I took it upon myself to watch over my lord alone, waiting until there was an opportunity for her to rise again." She explained.

Tourmaline scratched his chin and came to an epiphany. His lips pursed to a sly smirk.

"Can they wait a few more hours? I have a way we can make sure that part about the diamond rising happen." Tourmaline said.

Tsavorite raised an eyebrow.

"Go on." She demanded.

"Just give me her shard and follow me." He asked.

"I will hold onto her shard. Just lead me to whatever you're talking about." She ordered.

Tourmaline nodded and walked over to the edge of the forest and then looked over towards his ally.

"You don't have any issues with shapeshifting do you?" He asked.

She shook her head.

"Alright good. Let's get going!".

/**/

The gems were circling around Buergerite's hologram. It displayed a deep cavern with various broken boulders, crevices and a gargantuan sphere. The hologram displayed everything as light blue.

"Hard to believe that she was hanging out in style like that." Amethyst commented.

"To reforge a ship into a fortress like that in a month, incredible." Pearl said.

"Too bad she's such a psycho, she could be helpful." Obsidian said.

Garnet raised her hands up.

"Okay, so as we can see we can only approach her stronghold from one side, so no doubt she has this area heavily guarded." The fusion stated.

"We can break through it easily if we all fuse and attack her head on." Sardonyx suggested.

"That seems like a bad idea. She knows that we have plenty of firepower, so she will definitely have something to counter our strongest forces." Pearl brought up.

"Then our only option is to attempt to sneak into her base and then cause as much destruction as possible from the inside." Jasper said.

The others nodded.

"Any suggestions for doing that?" Lapis asked.

"Shapeshifting into something small could help." Amethyst asked.

"Then I cannot accompany you. I am incapable of shapeshifting anymore." Chrysoberyl said.

"And I can't come with if I have a large supply of water with me." Lapis stated.

"Then you two can hang back and come and save us if something goes wrong. You two are our most powerful allies, so depending on how much we weaken her forces you can easily demolish the rest of whatever Feldspar will have for us." Pearl declared.

"Sounds good." Lapis said.

"So we fuse once we go inside?" Tanza asked.

"Yes.".

"Great!" Steven declared.

The crystal gems looked down at Steven. Jasper looked over to Garnet.

"Should we bring the kids along with us?" She asked.

Garnet shook her head.

"It's too dangerous." She stated.

Amethyst and Pearl nodded.

The two kids looked up at her in shock.

"But-" Taz started before being silenced by a glare from Tanza.

"No buts. The fact that you two were at the last skirmish was because you were forced to come. We're not going to put you in danger if we can't help it." The purple gem decreed.

The two kids looked at the ground and pouted.

"Fine. We understand." Steven said.

Garnet pat Steven's head.

"Don't worry about it. This won't be long.".

Jasper cleared her throat and the other gems looked back to her.

"Now that that's resolved, let's get into the meat of things. So, we're aware of the plan?".

"What about the others?" Heliodor asked.

Jasper looked over to the small yellow gem.

"What about the others?" She repeated in an exaggerated tone.

"Feldspar kept them alive for a reason, and we can get them back. I'm not going through with this unless we can bring our allies back alive." The yellow gem demanded.

"I agree. We need to get them." Fluorite added.

Jasper sighed.

"Okay. We sneak in, find the prisoners, free them, and then we fuse and destroy everything Feldspar holds near and dear. Including her." The orange gem declared.

"Perfect!" Taz said.

"Let's do this. For Jet!" Obsidian declared.

"For Topaz!" Black Pearl added.

The gems raised their fists up in the air and cheered out. Tonight, everything would come to an end.

/**/

Tourmaline and Tsavorite warped to a rocky field. Tall mountains surrounded them, and in front of them was a large stone ring. Star shaped entrances lead inside of the great structure. Tourmaline took the first steps forward with Tsavorite following behind him.

"Steven told me about this place. He brought Amethyst here before he discovered his healing powers when her gem was damaged." The boy explained.

"The son of Rose right?" The green &amp; black gem questioned.

"Yes exactly, just call him Steven.".

The two walked through the archway to see a giant fountain filled to the brim with pink liquid. In the center of which was a statue of Rose Quartz. The two gems walked over to the water's edge and stared at Rose's form. Even if Tourmaline had once spoken with Quartz in his gem, seeing her sent chills down her spine. Tsavorite felt something similar to Tourmaline.

"So this gem led a rebellion against the Homeworld?" She asked.

"Yeah, and she was able to drive them back.".

Tsavorite looked down at her diamond's shard and frowned.

"We could've destroyed them long ago. If she could have done it, so could you." She thought.

Tourmaline placed his hand on her shoulder. They exchanged a look and Tourmaline pointed at the liquid.

"Soak the shard with the tears from the fountain." He ordered, "They have healing properties. The same healing power brought my father back from the dead, and they can do the same thing for Green Diamond.".

Tsavorite nodded and kneeled down by the drink's edge. She lowered the gem into the pool and the shard was submerged. She lifted the stone from the pink liquid and stared at it. Nothing was happening. The green and black gem looked back to him with an irritated stare.

"Give it a bit. It took Jade's gem several days to heal." He mentioned.

She looked back to the gem and the small green shard began to glow, much to the gems' surprise. The shard shone brightly and began to expand to three times it's size and formed into a long diamond. The two gems looked down at it in shock.

"That...doesn't seem normal." Tourmaline commented.

"Is this not supposed to happen? Is the shard okay!?" Tsavorite panicked.

Tourmaline raised his hands up in defense.

"Yes yes it's fine. But the thing is that usually the gem instantly heals if the gem is actually alive. So seeing it instantly reform like that is...weird." The boy admitted.

Tsavorite stood up and looked back to the diamond.

"Shouldn't she come back now?".

"I'm not sure. She was dead for a while after all, so she might take a while to reform." Tourmaline suggested.

"Are you certain about that?" A twisted voice asked.

Tourmaline spun around and looked to see a twisted looking gem staring at him. Tsavorite looked around Tourmaline and a smile appeared on her face. She pushed Tourmaline aside and rushed in front of her old comrade.

"Azurite! You've been freed!" She declared.

The green blue gem cackled and hugged her friend.

"Yes! Some stupid Homeworld gems freed me and Bloodstone. As soon as we gave em the slip, we rushed over to find you! But you took a bit to follow him sooooo it took a little extra to find you. These warp pads lead to interesting spots." She answered.

Tourmaline took a step forward and towards the two of them.

"Wait, Bloodstone is with you too? Where is she?" He asked.

First came the loud boom and then came the tremor. He turned around to see a gargantuan gem standing above him. As her eyes met his, the memories of his father's gem let him know that the monstrous beast was his ally, Bloodstone.

"I'm here. Now who are you?" The great gem asked.

Tourmaline took a step back to take in her monstrous size. She was as big as Pyrite to his shock. But he shook of the insane first impression and regained his composure.

"I'm Tourmaline. Son of Jade and Aquamarine." He said sternly.

Bloodstone's eyes widened and Azurite lost her smile. The muscular gem gnashed her teeth and stomped forward.

"How dare you speech such nonsense about my former ally!" She roared out as she swung her fist at Tourmaline.

The boy ducked down and the force from her punch caused the fountain's water to splash and ripple. Bloodstone glared down at him and was ready to strike once again, but Tsavorite rushed in front of Tourmaline before she lashed out once again. Azurite stared at the three of them with intrigue.

"Stand down Bloodstone! He's speaking the truth. I saw Jade and Aquamarine with my own eyes. I spoke with them...he is a fusion of the two of them. Their son." She stated.

Bloodstone looked down at the two gems with confusion. Azurite rushed forward and slammed into Tourmaline's back. The tan-green gem looked over his shoulder to see the odd gem looking at his face.

"Seriously? He looks pretty scrawny for something that came from Jade." She commented.

"I know it sounds crazy but I saw him defuse into them and then form into that." Tsavorite added.

"That?" Tourmaline thought with a puzzled look on his face.

Azurite rubbed Tourmaline's head and started to analyze each inch of the boy. Bloodstone leaned towards her other ally, giving her a suspicious gaze.

"Are you positive about him?" The demonic gem asked.

Tsavorite raised the diamond to Bloodstone's face and the warrior stumbled back at the sight. Azurite slithered around Tourmaline to get a look at the stone.

"It...it looks brand new!" Azurite commented.

Tsavorite pointed towards the statue of Rose Quartz and the two gems turned to look at her.

"She was once the protector of this planet. Her tears fill this pool, and that is what healed our master's gem. Green Diamond will reawaken soon." Tsavorite said.

Tourmaline looked over to Rose's statue as well and smiled. Again her influence allowed him to make new allies. Azurite shifted to Tourmaline's side and smiled down at him. Standing straight up she was actually a little taller than Tourmaline.

"Well I guess you could say that this little victory for us is partly my doing! If I never egged Jade on to go meet that cute little thing we wouldn't have our diamond back!" She boasted.

Tourmaline moved away from gaunt gem and looked at the three of them.

"Mind not talking about my mom like that?" He politely asked.

The colorful gem cocked her head.

"Why you call her that? You two are just fused together right?" She questioned.

Tourmaline shook his head.

"The type of fusion I've undergone is different from the usual means. I was an experiment from a mad gem named Feldspar. My mom and dad realized how crazy she was and they bolted to Earth, and the rest is history. I came into the picture around five-hundred years ago.".

Bloodstone walked forward and looked down at him with a smile.

"Only half a millennium? You're still just a pebble!" She laughed.

Tourmaline smirked and went into a fighting stance. Bloodstone grinned and went into her own fighting stance.

"I appreciate you helping us all so I'll let you off easy and just take a blow to gauge your strength. So give it your all!" She challenged.

She spread her legs widely and flexed her body to brace for impact. Before the others could say anything, Tourmaline rushed forward and leaped up towards the gem and drop kicked her abbs. Bloodstone's eyes widened as the impact rocked her to the core. The great gem slid backwards, her feet skating across the smooth stone. She felt herself slowly falling backwards. She was at the end of her trip and nearly over, but Tourmaline quickly rushed behind her and tripped her up, causing her to fall on her back. Tourmaline grinned down at the stunned gem with confidence.

"And that's without my weapon." He boasted.

Bloodstone smiled and got to her feet. Once she was back standing she slapped Tourmaline on the back.

"You really are your father's son." She commented.

"So I've heard. By the way how did you find us?" Tourmaline asked.

Azurite suddenly appeared behind them.

"It was all me! My specialty is tracking...well anything! Super hearing, super sight, super senses, I got it all! Not only that but I can stick to any surface, so any terrain is passable to me. Oh, and I can also teleport myself and objects that I touch!" She claimed.

Tourmaline gazed at her in awe. Such an impressive set of skills, no wonder she was one of the elites if she had all of that.

"And all of that comes from your gem?" He asked.

She shook her head and summoned her gauntlet.

"The senses and terrestrial travel abilities are au naturel. The gauntlet does let me teleport but it also does this." Her guantlet's blue lines shined and released from it's casing, forming into giant blue bandage like appendages, "I can will them to touch things, burrow underground or sneak across my body to touch things, turn invisible so I can touch things, and even grow in length so I can touch things!".

Tourmaline chuckled, "And that's so you can steal whatever and whoever away?".

"Well yeah, if I like them enough to do that. You don't wanna know what happens to the people I don't like." She promised slyly.

Tourmaline stepped back from his ally's disturbing smile and looked back to Bloodstone.

"So what skills are you packing?" He asked her.

"I hit hard. Nothing special, but I excell at what I do." She stated.

Tourmaline shrugged at the declaration and looked to Tsavorite.

"We have a lot to tell them. Could you help me with getting them up to speed?" He requested.

"Of course." She agreed.

/**/

Garnet and the others traveled across a barren landscape of rocks and moss to eventually find a large ravine. Pearl was the first to look down into the large gash in the earth to see a massive cave in the rock wall. She looked back at the others and they approached the side as well.

"You think she has some way to tell we're coming down this way?" Obsidian asked.

"Possibly, so the best option I'm thinking is to shapeshift and fly or float down there." Pearl answered.

From behind them, Elbaite came rushing across the field towards them. The light green gem stopped in front of Garnet, and the tall fusion looked back to her.

"How is Lapis coming with the water?" She asked.

"Slow, but she's bringing a lot with her.".

Amethyst laid down on her chest and hung her arms over the edge.

"Oh man this is gonna be a sinch! Those psychos won't know what hit em." She chuckled.

Jasper picked her up and placed the small purple gem on her feet.

"Stay focused. We have no idea what she has in that cave. Besides, Pyrite is still an issue that has to be taken seriously." The orange gem stated.

"She won't be much of a threat when I carve her eyes out of her skull." Heliodor stated coldly.

All the gems gave her an awkward and disturbed stare. The stern look on the yellow gem's face became flustered and she looked away from the others.

"I'm really angry at them alright!? Stealing my friends and partner." She stated.

Fluorite placed her hand on her comrade's shoulder.

"It's fine, we've all got a reason to hate them. So let's just get this all over with so we can all move on with our lives with one less monster to deal with.".

Pegmatite, Rubellite and Tanza stared down into the hole. The giant grey gem looked to her small friend and let out a low grumble. The pinkish-red gem looked up at her friend and flashed a reassuring smile.

"Keep the thought of beating down Pyrite in mind, not me. I'll be fine and stay in my own league." She promised.

"Be...safe…" Pegmatite requested.

The faceless gem then turned to look upon Tanza's distant and lifeless stare towards the entrance to her final battle. She poked the tall purple gem to get her attention, prompting Tanza to snap out of her daze and look up with a lively stare.

"Are you...worried…?" She asked.

Tanza averted her gaze.

"I...I am. There's just so much at risk at this one moment, it feels surreal that we're ending it now." She said.

"Is Tourmaline's situation bothering you too?" Rubellite added.

Tanza choked up a bit, but shook her head.

"I'm sure he's fine, and he'll end up rushing in late to the battle but just in time to make a difference. He hasn't ever let me or anyone else here down before." She said with a reluctant smile.

Chrysoberyl looked down towards the hole with a serious glare, with Jasper and Garnet at her sides.

"You feeling okay?" Garnet asked.

"Yes." The golden golem answered.

"Must be weird. To have to go against your master like this." Jasper stated.

Chrysoberyl looked at Jasper.

"Correct. I have not seen Feldspar since she sealed me away thousands of years ago. To be abandoned by the one you have your very existence to thank for...it feels like nothing I've ever felt before. Guilt...anticipation...I don't know how to describe it." She spoke artificially.

Jasper stared back down to the hole.

"Listen...just worry about assisting the others with Pyrite. I'll shatter Feldspar myself so you can avoid that." Jasper offered.

Chalcedony and Garnet smiled.

"Your offer of mercy is appreciated, but unnecessary. This is a confrontation that is meant to be." She said.

"Glad that you're empathizing with us rather than yelling at us now." Garnet commented.

Jasper chuckled.

"Come on, don't make me laugh. There's much more serious business that needs to be attended to.".

Garnet nodded in agreement and looked back down the hole. Chrysoberyl looked closer and noticed an odd flickering inside it.

"I see some sort of activity inside." She stated.

The others looked down to see the faint flashes of light.

"Hm, you think that it's some weird device she has?" Amethyst asked.

Suddenly, they heard a distant rumbling noise, much to the other's surprise. Jasper glared down in confusion.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Sounds like a fight." Elbaite stated.

Pearl looked towards Garnet.

"We should go now. If something's distracting Feldspar, we can use the chaos to sneak in and take her by surprise.".

"It could just be some machine she made and we'd be rushing in for no reason." Jasper retorted.

"I will go ahead. The risk is worth the reward, but that risk isn't worth if it's the cost of us all." Chrysoberyl spoke.

Black Pearl grabbed Chrysoberyl by the arm.

"Stay here. The risk isn't worth all of us getting ambushed." She insisted.

"Which is why I'm going alone.".

The golden golem leaped off the ravine's edge and fell towards the hole in the wall along with Black Pearl clinging onto her arm. The others staring down in shock.  
"That idiot is going to blow all of this for us!" Jasper growled.

Amethyst summoned her whip.

"I got em!".

Garnet put her hand in front of the small purple gem and looked down at them as the two gems rushed inside of the cave. She stared attentively down at the hole along with the rest of the gems. Tension made seconds pass like hours as the gems stared down and prayed for that Chrysoberyl's hunch was correct. Jasper twitched with an urgency to go in now and salvage what little chance they had at a surprise attack, but she controlled herself long enough to see Black Pearl and Chrysoberyl run out and wave them down. Elbaite tapped Jasper's hip.

"Go on without me. I'll be waiting for Lapis." She stated.

Jasper nodded and jumped down the ravine, along with the rest of the gems. Each landed in a way to ease the impact of their individual falls and looked dead at the stoic gem. Black Pearl had a surprised expression on her face.

"Don't you ever act against orders again!" Jasper scolded.

"It was a calculated risk that was worth the effort." Chrysoberyl stated.

The small dark gem stepped forward.

"The base is just as the projection described it. Sneaking in would've been insanely difficult...but we lucked out." She said with a grin, "Her base is already under attack.".

The others looked with surprised and confused expressions.

"It's being attacked? How and who?" Pearl asked.

"Tourmaline?" Tanza guessed.

Black Pearl shook her head.

"A Homeworld ship is firing at it. Probably those gem hunters.".

Heliodor, Fluorite and Jasper's eyes widened at the statement.

"Yellow Diamond sent bounty hunters to retrieve us?" The tall red gem questioned.

"No, for additional support." Jasper shot back.

"Who freakin cares why they're here! We got a perfect opportunity to sneak in and we're wasting it!" Heliodor yelled.

The golden golem nodded.

"She's correct. We must act now." She stated as she rushed back into the cave.

The others quickly dashed after her, the sounds of laser fire and destruction becoming louder with each step they took deeper inside. The group stopped at a sharp incline down into a field of jagged rocks and crevices. In the air, the shattered gems' ship was firing upon Feldspar's spherical lair while dodging returned fire from it's own personal cannons. The ship got clipped by a blast but wasn't shaken enough to be grounded just yet.

"All eyes gotta be on that ship. We'll snake through the crevices and make it the base. From there...we either find or make an entrance." Jasper said.

Heliodor and Amethyst were the first to leap to the first crevice with the others leaping to their own individual trenches. As they snuck through, it became more apparent that the Homeworld ship was going to lose, so the crystal gems quickened their pace despite the risk of being caught out themselves. A quick minute passed and the gems had met up at the large sphere's base.

"Ok, phase one done. How we get through phase two?" Heliodor asked.

Jasper looked to Garnet and Garnet did the same.

"Don't suppose you have a vision where we get in without getting caught." The orange gem asked.

"A few guesses." Garnet placed her hand on the cold, metallic exterior and drag it along as she walked next to it, "There might be a place that is not only a weak spot, but also an area that won't alert-".

A wild blast from the damaged Homeworld ship blasted off center and struck a section of the base ten feet away and above of the group. They shielded themselves from the splash of the large explosion and looked back to see a large hole in the base's wall.

"...That was my next guess." Garnet said.

Jasper and the others leapt up to the hole in the base. Although greatly damaged, the hole didn't penetrate the hide of the stronghold completely.

"We got this." Obsidian said as she and Sardonyx stepped forward with weapons in hand.

The two burly gems began to beat away at the thin wall, denting and breaking the metal plating and ripping out wires as large as vines. The others eagerly waited for their opportunity to invade the base, but a large explosion drew their attention away from their tunnel inside. The group looked back to see the Homeworld ship falling to the ground, torn asunder from a blast and set ablaze with green fire. As it crashed down, it exploded into a great emerald blaze. Jasper, Heliodor and Fluorite frowned at the downed ship. Garnet, Pearl and Black Pearl stared on at the burning wreckage with them.

"It's always painful to see comrades go." Pearl commented.

"What're you talking about? They weren't your friends." Heliodor responded.

"True, but they were yours. Besides, they weren't exactly bad from what we've experienced with them. A little foolhardy, but I felt no malice from them." Garnet commented.

Jasper sighed.

"Who were they?".

"Two of them were called Carnelian and Chalcedony." Black Pearl stated.

"The others were a group called the Shattered Gems." Pearl added.

The Homeworld gems were silent again. Fluorite broke it with a chuckle, with the other gems' frowns turning to smiles.

"If that's who was on that ship...then the fight is far from over." The tall red gem said.

A bright, purple light shone from the ship's open wound. From that light a figure grew out of the hole. It stepped out as tall as a giraffe and then grew to the size four story building. The figure of a sexless, doll like human sprouted three extra pairs of arms from it's shoulders both above and below the original pair with the last pair sprouting at an angle in front of the first ones. The legs widened out, becoming more thick and muscular. Hair sprouted from the doll's head, flowing past her shoulders ending in eight pairs of looping curls, four on each side, two for the front and two for the back. The purple light spun around the giantess's body and turned into a giant cylinder. The cylinder morphed and shone like an aurora borealis waving around the woman's body. One of her hands melodramatically brushed her hair upwards as her other arms posed in their own elegant styles. She held the pose for a few seconds until she suddenly spun in quick motion, obliterating her veil and creating a giant wall of vivid colour, revealing her true form. Her skin was a pinkish purple, her hair was dirty gold, and she wore an exotic dress. Her arms were completely exposed as each posed dramatically to make the beautiful gem's appearance all the more astounding. A turquoise blue vest sectioned like an X allowed her arms free motion, her collar area and naval to breath. Underneath that was a veil skirt much like the aurora borealis that summoned her, hid her legs in a vivid fog. Dark blue high heeled boots reached up to her knees, slowly slanting downwards revealing half of her calves. Around her neck was a white and green choker. Her succulent lips a dark purple pursed into a confident smirk. Five eyes adorned her face, two in their normal placement, two near the temples of her eyes and one large eye in the center of her forehead. Each eye had it's own color representing the gem that fused to make it, with the exception of the forehead one which was a mixture of Ametrine's colors.

The gems gazed at the goddess that appeared before them, even Sardonyx and Obsidian stopping and staring in the middle of their duty.

"Who is that?" Black Pearl said in awe.

"The fusion of the Shattered Gems, Rainbow Moonstone." Fluorite answered.

The base's cannons readied another barrage of fire and Rainbow Moonstone's lowest pair of arms whirled in front of her and formed two large spiked shields. The base fired at her, the blast powerful enough to push her backwards, but not break her defense. The highest pair of arms gracefully moved to bring forth the bright form of Ametrine's batons with Kunzite's chain wrapping around them. The handle of the batons sun to the bottom and the length of each baton became as long as the chain that wrapped around them. The long bright forms broke into nine sections, with the base to the second to last ones as mere metallic bars. The long thing ended with a final, thicker bar with a sharpened end. Light dissipated and revealed the bars to be linked via two, gold rings each. In both hands she spun her two nine sectioned chain whips at an insane speed, producing a sound akin to a helicopter's rotating blade. The cannons aimed at her once again, but two of them were slashed by a near invisible force. A large figure landed with a crash a bit in front of the base. The gems peeked around the side of the wall and saw another gem.

"I take it that's Carnelian and Chalcedony fused?" Black Pearl asked.

"Yep! That's Pietersite." Heliodor answered.

The crouching figure rose to a hunched position, one hand on the ground while the other had a large cutlass with a smokey blue blade and a blood red handle. Her figure was rather lanky, with well toned, exposed abs and small breasts. She adorned a coat as blue as the deep sea that stopped at her mid back with the sleeves curled up into puffy cuffs as bright as the sky. A black band covered her chest, black and red shorts akin to a lake of magma cut off at her thighs, and burnt boots cut off a bit above the ankle. Her skin was ash blue with veins of scarlet red traveling across her arms, torso, legs, and even on her face. On her face were three eyes, two on the left stacked above each other with winehouse eyeliner and golden irises, and the one on the right large enough to match the position of the left two. The only matching characteristic was it's eyeliner, shape was a stretched out version of one of the other eyes and its iris was as orange as a roaring flame. The eyes were a little wider apart than normal, and from the two top and bottom left corners of large eye came the red veins cutting across her face, two meeting her other eyes and then looping around where they would've been if said eyes weren't in the way, giving the large eye the visual of a designed eye patch. Her thin lipped mouth and normal nose were positioned in simple positions, highlighting the oddity of the rest of her face. A mahogany red bandana covered half of the top of her head, with the exposed back flowing into oxford blue flowing locks that split and fluttered into cinder like ends near her upper back. She gracefully moved her body up to her full height, and was about two-fifths of Rainbow Moonstone's size.

The gems sunk back into their hole and chose to ignore the two fusions.

"Great, we still have a distraction. Now let's bust this thing down, get inside and wreck this place!" Amethyst declared.

"Friends first. We can mess this place up faster with them." Heliodor stated.

The weakened wall finally caved in with a mighty strike from Obsidian's hammer, giving way to a hole big enough for the gems to sneak into.

"Lets finish this." Dravite said coldly.

/**/

Feldspar stared out at the fusions with an irritated grimace. Her defenses were being broken down by their graceful movements and powerful counter attacks. She seethed and turned over to Pyrite.

"Do you still have any word of Chrome Tourmaline coming back?" She asked in her robotic voice.

"No, the little shit probably got himself killed." She spat, "Worthless cocky clod. Apple didn't fall too far from the tree with him.".

Before Feldspar could respond, a blinker appeared on a control panel, emitting an irritating beeping noise. She tapped the flashing thing to see that a portion of her base had been penetrated.

"That portion wasn't attacked recently and the blast didn't inflict enough damage to just make it crumble." She commented, then turning to her titan, "Pyrite, you and I shall go investigate this. Black Opal…".

The cyborg gem turned over towards a gem lurking in the shadows.

"Yes...mistress." She answered in a dead, depressed tone.

"The situation has worsened. Release Hemimorphite and the other experiments, then man this post and keep our defenses up. I will not tolerate any damage to my lab." The grey gem ordered.

"Yes...I shall do this." The hidden gem answered.

The two gems left and Black Opal stepped out of the shadows and towards the control panel, the green light revealing her figure. She was tall, lean, and dark. Her skin was black with blue hues, and her hair was dark violet and in a dignified, low hanging ponytail. She wore a two piece outfit in the form of a basal green jacket whose sleeves cut off at her elbows and coal red yoga pants that led to exposed, clawed feet. From her hands, what looked like another hand's back was rising from the back of her hand in a hump, like another arm was begging to escape her skin and move on it's own. Her hands had clawed fingers, and her two eyes had two irises, a ring being bright green circled a pool of icy blue. In the center, a pink slit gave her eyes a demonic, vivid look. She bore a grimace, her sharp teeth exposed as she tapped at the control panel. On her lower back, a long, plated tail with a devilish spear head at the end rested on the floor. As she pressed the final command prompt, a small hologram appeared to her, revealing a gate leading to the outside of the base. A giant, multi armed horror crawled on all it's limbs, hissing and screaming as it rushed out with the intent on killing, with other contorted nightmares following after it.

For Black Opal's safe, she should consider herself lucky. She had come out cognitive enough to perform multiple tasks for her mistress. But she didn't feel anything. She could only feel a faint memory of her past selves as she stared on as a new battle was about to commence outside of her home. This was it, the final battle that meant life or death for her or them, but all she could feel was emptiness.

/**/

Tourmaline and his group of new friends rested near the fountain's edge as the boy and Tsavorite spent nearly an hour and a half with their own question and answer session. There was still much to discuss in terms of what the era the gems had awoken in had in store for them, but they now knew the basics when it came to the history of Earth and what Tourmaline was fighting against. Bloodstone stared right at the boy while Azurite was laying on her stomach with her hands messing with the fountain's water.

"So this gem Feldspar is the reason you are who you are, and she also happens to be completely insane &amp; attempting to kill your planet in her first step to kill all of the Homeworld." Bloodstone pieced together, "Seems that your allies have their hands full.".

Tourmaline sighed.

"I know. We've lost a few valuable friends because of her. She needs to be stopped." He rose up to his feet and looked Bloodstone in the eyes, "I know you just woke up after so long, but I'm asking for your help. I'm not letting any more people die on my watch.".

"Couldn't you just bring them back to this fountain and heal them like you did for our diamond?" Tsavorite asked.

He turned around and looked at her.

"What happened with the shard was something extraordinary. The most damaged gem that was repaired by Rose's power was my father's stone, and even then it had a lot more to it then that tiny portion. What they've done to them...can't be fixed.".

Azurite stretched back and rested on her knees. She looked over to Tourmaline and presented a black shard.

"I guess that's why nothing's happening with this bit." She commented.

Tourmaline turned to her. His eyes widened at the sight of Jet's stone, and quickly snatched it from Azurite's hand. The disgruntled gem huffed her cheeks and rubbed her hand.

"You coulda just asked and I woulda given it.." She sulked.

Tourmaline ignored her and gazed at the shard with a lamentable gaze. The green and blue gem snaked up to her feet and to Tourmaline's side. With her other hand she passed the rest of the broken orb to his open palm.

"Felt like picking it up. Didn't know she was a recent death." She commented.

Tourmaline frowned and passed the shards to her.

"It's fine. Just another reason to end this faster.".

Azurite felt awful for bringing down the mood, so she quickly messed around with the pieces, much to the other's confusion. She turned back around and presented a nearly perfect orb, save one missing bit on the top.

"See? Ehehe, she's good as new!" She stammered.

Tourmaline stared at the stone in astonishment. He thought much more of her was destroyed, but in the heat of the moment of rushing to Topaz, he must have not noticed. He carefully took the orb from her and brought it to the fountain's edge. He submerged the stone, and after a few seconds, the stone began to shine once more. The cracks from Azurite's crude repair dissipated as the shards slowly began to fuse together. He looked at it closely to see that even the gap had closed. Jet's stone was whole again. The other two looked on in astonishment at the stone's change, with Tsavorite already experiencing the healing phenomena.

"Alright NOW she's good as new." Azurite joked.

Tourmaline had a warm smile on his face, but it jerked back into a serious frown.

"It doesn't matter. The matter at hand now is ending this." He placed the gemstone in his pocket and looked at the others, "Are you with me?".

Tsavorite was the first to step forward.

"Your friends gave their lives to protect me and get back what was most precious to me. Then despite our first encounter, you stepped in and saved me as well. Even if you weren't the product of my former comrade, I am in your debt.".

Bloodstone rose up and towered over them all.

"You are the spark that has ignited our return. Your enemies are my enemies, and I will annihilate any threat to come to you." She vowed.

"I just like you so I'll kill shit for you." Azurite said bluntly, "Sorry I'm not as poetic as my sisters.".

Tourmaline chuckled, along with the rest of them. However it was cut short by a pulsing green light coming from Green Diamond's stone. All eyes were on it, each shocked at it. It shone incandescently, but then stopped.

"What...what happened?" Tsavorite asked.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing our diamond is happy to join as well.". Tourmaline chuckled.

Tourmaline walked forward and scowled again. The others followed him towards the warp pad.

"I only have one request. Pyrite is mine." He stated.

Tsavorite looked at him with a surprised stare.

"Are you serious? She's quite formid-".

"I know, and I don't care. I want this. I want to crush her gems under my heel and take everything away from her like she took everything away from me." He said coldly.

The others looked at him with sadistic smiles.

"That's the spirit. It's been so long since I've been in an actual fight. My blood's boiling just thinking about it." Bloodstone commented.

"We'll kill em all, cept your special target buddy!" Azurite added.

"None will survive." Tsavorite finished.

With that, the four gems stepped onto the warp pad and were whisked away.

/**/

The group of gems stealthily rushed through the dark hallways of the twisted base. Dark green lights barely illuminated the way. Garnet led the charge with Jasper and the others right behind her. As she rushed forward, she stopped at a corner. She threw her hand back, catching Jasper and signaling the others to stop. Before they could ask why, they heard footsteps approaching them. Rubellite looked back and saw no one, so they had to be coming around the corner. Pearl summoned her spear while Garnet got in position to grab whoever was coming by. The sound grew louder with each step. Garnet saw a form for a quick second and immediately grabbed them, covering their face with one hand while grabbing the body with her arm. She spun around and presented the captured gem to the group. Garnet moved her hand from the small gem's face to their mouth to reveal that it was Peridot, although a lot smaller than she remembered. Jasper sighed at the sight of her partner's thrashing, tiny form.

"It's just Peridot." She said.

"Heh, she's got a downgrade." Amethyst commented.

Jasper looked at the purple gem with a stern look.

"No, she had her upgrades taken away. This is how peridots look. They're given limb enhancers on missions so they're not defenseless." She explained.

Pearl put her spear away and Black Pearl stepped forward.

"She's obviously under mind control as well, so please allow me." She requested as she pulled a thread from her gem.

Garnet nodded, holding the gem up by her rear end with her other hand firmly clamped around her mouth. The tiny gem slapped and kicked at Garnet, but the fusion wasn't deterred by the small attacks. Black Pearl jabbed her fingers into the gem's neck, twirling the thread around the device influencing her mind. Peridot froze as she felt the sharp pain in her neck. The next instant Black Pearl yanked the small node from the tiny green gem's neck. Her limbs went limp and her enraged expression turned bawdy. Garnet let her down and she leaned against a wall, rubbing her head with her hand.

"Ooooh...what happened?" Peridot muttered.

She looked up to see Garnet's smiling face. She made a slight noise of terror and slowly backed into Jasper. She looked over her shoulder and saw her intimidating glare. She grinned and scampered to hide behind her escort.

"Ha! You lost to her once and she's gonna kick your butt no-" She boasted before Jasper covered her mouth.

"Shut it you idiot! We're in enemy territory." Jasper seethed.

She let go of her face and Peridot stared up in astonishment.

"But...aren't they the enemy?" She asked.

Jasper shook her head.

"They're frie...allies. Feldspar has resurrected after turning traitor. She plans on utilizing this planet's resources and her experiments to create an army to usurp the Homeworld. Heliodor and Fluorite are with us, but the rest of our platoon is still being held prisoner like you and I were. Our goal is to get them, and then destroy this place." Jasper explained.

Peridot had a skeptical look on her face.

"Really?" She looked around to see all the other gems and the base she was in, "Well that explains the rest of you guys...and the ominous changes to our ship.".

Peridot looked at the two pearls and noticed the blood on the dark one's fingers. She then noticed the dripping feeling coming from the back of her neck. She touched and was mortified to see it was her blood.

"Bl-bl-bl-bl-blood!?" She exclaimed.

The others shushed her.

"I had to rip out the device that was controlling you. It was installed in the neck region like the others, so sorry if there's still an exit wound." Black Pearl stated.

Peridot had a questioning stare on her face and looked back to Jasper.

"You let the pearl do surgery on me?" She asked.

Pearl and Black Pearl scowled at her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Pearl snapped.

Jasper growled at Peridot.

"Now's not the time to go into details, but just know that they're different from what we're used to. So if you could, do you have any idea where the prisoner bay is?" Jasper asked.

Peridot looked back and forth from the group and to Jasper. She scratched her head and tried to think.

"Uh...Uh...I think I was just there." She stammered.

She walked ahead and the others skeptically followed her deeper into the base. Pearl and Black Pearl were in a huff at Peridot's remark, with Dravite and Rubellite walking next to them to keep them calm.

Eventually, they made it to a large door with a key panel next to it. Peridot smiled smugly.

"I knew it!" She said as she walked over to the panel.

Garnet, Jasper and Heliodor walked in front of the door first. The others got ready to fuse once the other gems were retrieved. Peridot jumped up and tapped the activation button, and the door slowly started to part open. The door opened up a few inches, but then two large hands reached into the crevice and ripped the doors apart. The gems stared in shock of the massive gem that appeared before them.

"Hello there!" Pyrite roared out as she reeled back for a punch, unleashing it and hitting Garnet in the Torso.

The magenta fusion flew backwards and knocked the two pearls down, stopping after knocking over Pegmatite. The giant silver and black gem quickly backhanded Jasper towards the group and tossed Heliodor at them as well. The gems quickly regrouped, summoned their weapons and stared down the sneering giant while Peridot shivered next to the panel.

"I've been looking forward to this." The giant declared.

Peridot tried to move, but a lightning tentacle came from the door, wrapped around the green gem and instantly poofed her. The source of the tentacle moved around Pyrite to reveal herself as Feldspar.

"Too bad it's going to be such a short one." The cyborg stated.

The other gems glared at her with their weapons drawn.

"You have no idea what you're up against! We defeated you while we were unprepared, but now you'll be nothing compared to our fusion!" Garnet shouted.

"Yeah you're dead!" Amethyst added.

Feldspar typed away at her arm and suddenly a yellow, electric wall appeared in front of them. It slowly started to approach the gems, causing them to slowly back off.

"I really don't want my goods to be damaged, so I'm kindly asking you to move outside." Feldspar said calmly as she walked with them.

Pyrite followed, and the injured Heliodor slowed her pace just enough to be in Feldspar's main view.

"It doesn't matter what you try to pull outside, we have more fire power out there than you can muster. You're going to die, and I'm going to get my Iolite back!" She shouted.

Feldspar smirked.

"Oh right, the poor dear has been crying your name out the most.".

"What? What are you saying!?" The yellow gem shouted.

"The mind control is a temporary solution, but eventually will power worms it's way back into the gem's mind and they start to fight against it, becoming a bit more...unreliable. So I'm removing that implementation for more extreme forms of control." Feldspar explained.

The group now had their backs to the wall, with another two yellow barriers appearing next to their other sides. Pyrite placed both of her hands together and started charging an attack. Garnet, Obsidian and Sardonyx started attacking the wall while the others thought to quickly fuse. Felspar pressed another few buttons and the wall they were pounding at suddenly opened outside, and Pyrite let her blast rip forward. Chrysoberyl moved in front of the blast, covering her chest with her arms as the silver and black ball connected. The resulting blast knocked all of the gems out of the base and onto the battlefield. They all groaned in pain as they got back to their feet. Garnet looked over to see the golden gem lying motionless on the ground.

"Chrysoberyl!".

The giant got up and faced Garnet with an angered expression, and revealing her extreme wounds. Her arms were badly cracked and a portion of the top of her head was missing.

"I am fine. I shall stall them while you fuse!" She declared.

Garnet nodded and turned to the others, but the others were staring in terror at the scene around them. Garnet looked to see something out of hell. The Homeworld fusions were being overpowered by what could safely be described as abominations. Rainbow Moonstone's arms were in the clutches and teeth of a giant fusion almost as tall as her. The fusion was a pale blue with green claws and nails, with a plate covering her eyes. She wore a turquoise vest, ocean blue shorts, and tied tightly around her body and arms were bright white chains and locks. Her four beastly arms grabbing at whatever limb she could rend, with her giant maw chomping down on another part of her. The fusion tried desperately to beat her off, but the suppressive fire from the base made it impossible for the fusion to get a good shot it.

Pietersite on the other hand was being ganged up by other disturbing, malformed monstrosities. They screeched and lashed out at her like hyenas torturing isolated prey, but the fusion was able to at least fight back a bit.

The most terrible sight however was the one of Lapis and Elbaite in the clutches of a particularly nasty beast. The giant had a hand for a head with sharp barbs on the front of the fingers, a serpent like body with insect legs protruding from the sides, and several thrashing tendrils that held the struggling gems. Lapis was bashed against a rock, her form poofing instantly while squeezing the life out of Elbaite. With their disappearance, a flood of water came forth. The deluge rushed down across the rocks, filling the cracks with water. Another blast from the cannons took out one of Rainbow Moonstone's shields, along with an arm, and the monster gem finally got a chance to pounce on her, aiming at her succulent neck. She screamed in agony as the monster tore away at her, alerting her Pietersite of her friend's demise. In that one moment of worry, a monster rushed at her and took out her leg, with the rest leaping to pile up on her. It was over in an instant, and the fusions vanished.

Garnet and the others stumbled back and formed a circle, their backs to each others so they had no blind spot, but it was nearly pointless. Around their right were another batch of demonic beasts. Some lumbered forward, some crawled, a few even flapped ghastly wings, advancing towards them in the darkness. The abomination that now holds Lapis Lazuli and Elbaite hostage approached them from the north side. The titanic monster crawled over with her multiple arms, dragging her legs across the jagged rocks as the other gems followed her from the left, and Feldspar &amp; Pyrite looked down at them from the south. The two leaped down into the killing fields and smiled. Garnet and Jasper moved to face the abomination with hostages while the others faced their own threats, with Chrysoberyl facing the two actual gems. The fusion was ready to attack but then the monster opened it's giant hand to reveal a face inside. Garnet's expression turned from a fearsome amazon to a frightened child. In the palm of the monster's hand was a face with distorted features. Eyes littered about it, two mouths placed jaggedly on random spots, and twisted gems faceted on.

"What...what is this…" Garnet stuttered.

Jasper looked over to see Garnet practically shivering. Feldspar smiled.

"Oh? What's wrong? I thought you would be happy with a reunion.".

Pearl looked over to her with an enraged glare.

"What are you talking about!?" She demanded.

Feldspar held her hand out as if she were presenting a treasure.

"These are the fruits of my labor. When I was looking through the makeup of the gems I had acquired from you, Pyrite had discovered something incredible at the kindergarten. Containers filled with gemstones, forced together crudely to make abominations. Obviously they tried weaponizing some long dead gems, but they did a rather poor job of it." She explained.

"They're….they're crystal gems…" Garnet gasped.

"Yes! This experiment opened up a whole new world of ideas to me! I always knew fusion could be utilized as a weapon but to a degree like this seemed all but impossible to the Homeworld given their efforts. You should've seen them before, nothing but limbs wandering about aimlessly, desperately searching for a body or what was left of them." She said with a chipper tone, "If anything, I am their saviour, as I have given them forms that they can survive in. And for that, they serve me. Your pathetic leader's army is now mine. Only this time, they are evolved and superior in every way.".

The others moved into the light to reveal their ghastly, deformed, contorted forms. Each looked unique from one another, and that made it all the more disturbing as they gazed at the crystal gems with the monstrous eyes. The giant drolled as she eagerly awaited the moment to strike and kill. The gems were horrified of their surroundings, with Heliodor making another horrific discovery.

"That face...her arms and legs." She stuttered, "Benitoite...Sphene?!"

Pyrite slowly clapped.

"Excellent observation. They were the first to go in another experiment involving fusing the gems together. She's a bit blander than the rest of them, but they have the advantage of corrupted gems making them up." She said.

Garnet continued to tremble at the horrors around her. Jasper looked over to see her and finally moved. She grabbed Garnet by the shoulders and made the frightened gem face her.

"Garnet! Snap out of it!" She demanded.

"This...this is wrong! Fusion isn't supposed to...this isn't what it's supposed to be!" She stammered.

Jasper slapped Garnet, knocking her shades away and revealing her teary, terrified eyes.

"Stay with us! I know it's horrible, but being scared isn't going to help them! We can't do this if you're not with us!" She shouted.

"For what it's worth...we're done with Homeworld." Heliodor stated.

"They planted the seeds for something this horrific. I can't live serving the people who would do this." Fluorite added.

Jasper looked back at the gems with a surprised glare. Pearl and Amethyst rushed to Garnet's side and held her.

"Garnet! I know it's awful, it's horrific but we can give them some peace! We have to defeat that psycho and then we can figure out a way to save these gems!" Pearl pleaded.

"Please G! I'm just as scared as you! I need you!" Amethyst added.

Garnet's trembling lips tightened into a toothy scowl. It was so tight that the other's could hear her teeth practically cracking. She turned around to look at Feldspar's proud expression.

"Monster…" She seethed, "**YOU MONSTER!**".

She smiled.

"It's not as bad as you think it is. Once you're like them, you'll see that life is no different from when they had their old, pathetic forms." She said coldly.

The others got ready to lash out.

"You scum…" Dravite added.

Pegmatite roared out in anger, her mouth appearing as she beat her chest. Rubellite armed herself and was ready to fight. The crystal gems faced Pyrite and Feldspar while the others faced the forced fusions around them. Feldspar chuckled.

"Pathetic clods...it's pointless to struggle. My world...my universe shall be molded by your hands. The era of the crystal gems and the Homeworld is over. My time is now.".

The beasts roared, shrieked and gurgled as they rushed towards the gems, and the gems rushed back. The odds are against them, they know that they might lose, but they weren't going to lay back and let Feldspar take them without the fight of her life. As they all dispersed, a sudden realization struck Feldspar.

"Tourmaline isn't here. Pity...at least I'll have something to show him when I find him." She thought.

To Be Continued


	39. Chapter 39: Rage and Loyalty Part Two

Polished Gems #39: Rage and Loyalty Part 2

Rain drops battered against glass and roof shingles as if they were hail. A giant storm was over Beach City, thunder and lightning echoing out in mighty roars and flashes. Steven was sitting in front of the warp pad along with Taz, Talc and Buergerite. It had been hours since the others had left them to finish their battle, and his confidence in his friends and family was starting to waiver. The same could be said for Talc and even Taz, with Buergerite remaining stoic.

"I'm sure they're okay." The brown gem reassured them, "It has to be a harsh battle, but there's no way they can't win.".

"I know but...it's still scary to think about it." Taz thought.

"Yeah it's...it's really worrying that...that they…" Steven mumbled.

The boy slumped over onto Taz and the small gem moved to lay him down. Talc looked on and smiled.

"He's really tired." He said as he looked to the clock, which read 11:30 p.m.

Steven started to snore as the others looked down at him. Taz smiled.

"I think I might take a nap too. I might be able to relax a little if I rest." She suggested.

The two adult gems nodded.

"We'll watch the warp pad. You get some shut eye." Talc promised.

She nodded and laid down near Steven. Buergerite's gem spawned a few tendrils and lifted the two children off the floor. She moved them to the couch and sat next to them. Talc remained at the pad and stared on at it.

As Steven slept, he saw nothing but blackness. But then, he opened his eyes and it was morning. All of his friends were at home, chatting and smiling. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl saw the young boy wake up and smiled at him.

"Guys!" He beamed as he jumped off the couch and rushed towards them.

The three gems caught him in a giant group hug and the others joined to circle around him. Steven looked up to see his three closest friends staring down at him.

"I'm so glad you're all back!" He exclaimed.

"It wasn't anything too bad." Garnet boasted.

"Yeah we kicked Feldspar and Pyrite's butts!" Amethyst bellowed as she butt in.

Pearl pushed the eager purple gem aside to get Steven's attention, "And we did it together. Earth is safe again.".

Steven looked to see the Homeworld gems together, even Peridot, Iolite, Benitoite, Sphene and Axinite were there.

"All of you guys are alright?" Steven asked.

Jasper nodded.

"Everything is back in order. We'll be heading home shortly.".

"Our mission was to destroy Feldspar, and you helped us accomplish that. The crystal gems helped stop a threat that would have overthrown Yellow Diamond along with the rest of the Homeworld. We cannot be allies once more but we can assure you that we can persuade a peace treaty to leave your planet be." Ametrine promised.

Heliodor stepped forward, holding Iolite's hand.

"You guys saved the love of my life. We're gonna see if we can stay here with you, we owe you that much." She said happily.

Steven turned to see Lapis smiling and then to see the others happy. But something was off. There was no sign of Tourmaline. As perfect as everything seemed, it was a little soured by the fact that he wasn't around.

A knock came from the front door. Steven immediately rushed towards it with the hopes that it was Tourmaline. He swung open the door and to his delight he was looking at Tourmaline's gemstones. The young boy happily scanned up the gem's body to see his face, but his mood was immediately killed by the stern, ill tempered expression on his face.

"Tourmaline...we won! Everything is okay now-".

Tourmaline picked the boy up and tossed him backwards. Steven landed on his butt and all eyes were on him. Tourmaline glared at Steven with eyes of pure hatred.

"No...it's not. Nothing is okay…" He growled, his form rippling and shifting, "All of this is wrong.".

Steven was afraid. He turned to the crystal gems for some semblance of help, but to his horror, they were now groaning in pain, acting as if they were being dragged down by something. He looked to see the others acting the same. He turned to Tourmaline once again and saw that the house was starting to crumble and change. The bright warm sunshine of the morning sun turned blood red, with all light inside the house being drained away save for a few red squares, one of which would have shined on Steven if the doorway wasn't blocked by Tourmaline's jittering form.

"Do you really think that this is what's really going on?" He gurgled as he started to melt, "See past your delusions and witness the truth.".

Tourmaline's body disintegrated, the bright light from the doorway lighting up the house. Steven looked around to see disfigured, tormented beings attacking his friends. The figures were crying out in pain.

"Need...want...must...why...not my..form...help…" they chanted and gurgled as they struck the gems down one by one.

Steven rushed over to try and save the crystal gems, but as soon as he moved, the ground below him turned black and he was picked up by a giant hand. He turned around to see the shadowy figure had streaks of silver on it's body, along with two devilish eyes made of pure silver. It shone a horrific grin and then closed it's hand, enveloping the boy in darkness.

Steven woke up, screaming as he shot up. Taz was jolted awake and immediately looked at Steven, along with the other gems.

"Steven what's wrong!?" Taz asked.

Steven breathed heavily. He took deep breaths and looked at Taz.

"They need help." He stated.

Taz and Talc were puzzled by this. Talc moved from his position and walked over to Steven.

"Who needs our help? The others? I know it's worrying but we can't do much-".

"We have to try!" Steven shouted,"I know something bad is going to happen! My dreams haven't steered me wrong before. Please, we have to go to them!".

The three gems stared at him with concerned gazes.

"There isn't much we can do to help them Steven." Talc admitted.

Steven scowled, got up and ran past Talc and to the warp pad.

"Then I'll go myself!" He threatened.

Talc and Taz rushed over to him.

"Steven don't! We'll just get in the way!" The white gem argued.

"We might just save them! I can't risk throwing their lives away like this! Don't you get it!?" He pleaded.

Taz's gem glowed, and Talc was lifted off the ground. She walked onto the warp pad and stood next to Steven.

"He's right. Even if it's a pipe dream I can't sit here any longer and wait for Tanza or anyone else to fight our battles for us while we stay here like cowards." She stated.

Talc had a concerned look on his face and looked back to Buergerite. She nodded to him.

"I'll slow you down the most. This form is not meant for fighting or sneaking. Go save them." She ordered.

Talc nodded as well and Taz released him. The young gem walked onto the pad and stood behind the two kids.

"I failed to protect you once. That isn't going to happen again." He promised.

Steven nodded at him and the three gems warped away. The brown, constrained gem frowned as she stared at her body. She slumped back and wallowed in her own self pity.

"Please let them be safe. I can't do this on my own." She prayed.

/**/

Pearl was pinned down by a many armed abomination. She stared into a distorted face on the beast's stomach and felt another pair of hands squeezing her head. The pale pearl screamed out in pain as her head slowly started to cave in.

"Leave her alone!" Amethyst screamed as she lashed out at the beast.

Before her blow could reach it, she was snatched by a large silver hand. Pyrite stared down at her prey, bruised and scowling she crushed Amethyst with relative ease. Garnet leaped onto the gem's back and placed her in a chokehold. Pyrite tried to reach back for her but the fusion swung her body to avoid capture.

Pegmatite bellowed out in rage as she swatted away smaller monsters that tried to steal Rubellite's stone away from her. The beasts quickly leaped back as Hemimorphite leaped at the grey gem and crushed her with a powerful bite. The tortured fusion slowly rose up from the ground, her drool carrying the stones out of her mouth.

Heliodor and Dravite struggled to make it past Feldspar's wall of writhing and shocking tendrils. The great gem used her pillars to pin a few of them down, giving her ally the opportunity to strike. She leaped off of her comrade's shoulders and charged blades first towards the cybernetic menace. Feldspar simply smiled and her artificial eye began to glow. The yellow gem's blade was nearly in front of her opponent's face, but she was blown away by a lightning fast pulse from the eye. She was sent flying backwards and knocked into Dravite. Feldspar chuckled at the pathetic attempt.

"I honestly can't believe this is turning out so easy. This only proves that my experiments are a rousing success. Once this planet is mine, taking over the homeworld will be nothing." She taunted.

Jasper knocked away a monster she was facing and rolled into a ball. She quickly charged at Feldspar with great force, but Pyrite rushed in front of her mother to block the attack. Jasper bounded off of the silver gem's chest, and two giant fists slammed her into the ground, breaking rock as if it were styrofoam. The quartz tried to get up, but a strong stomp pushed her deeper into the ground. She took aim at Jasper's head and charged up another blast. Garnet acted quickly and grabbed Pyrite's face, covering her eyes with one finger going into her opponent's socket. The gem roared out in frustration and missed Jasper's head, instead hitting her back, creating a massive hole resulting in her to be poofed.

Pearl finally succumbed to her opponent's overwhelming strength and poofed as well. Now all that remained were Garnet, Fluorite, Chrysoberyl, Sardonyx and Obsidian. The giant black gem roared out in a blind rage and started to burn scarlet red. She spewed flames like a dragon, enveloping many of the forced experiments. Even Hemimorphite was frightened by the inferno in front of her.

Sardonyx slammed her club into the ground and began to rend Earth as if it were paper, creating jagged rocks and other trenches that the monsters fell into. The flames from her comrade began to create a wall of steam, and shortly after that, the water began to boil. The two of them unintentionally turned the uneven terrain in their favor.

The damaged golem and Fluorite rushed to finish off the struggling Pyrite. Once she was down, they had a much better chance at victory, though even then it looked slim. The other two turned to finish off the rest of the nightmare creatures while they went to take out Feldspar's trump card. Fluorite leapt at the blinded gem, jaws agape and clinged onto her torso. She struggled to get a good hold with her jaws due to her thrashing about while Chrysoberyl began to punch and strike at Pyrite's legs to knock her down. Garnet clung onto her enemy desperately while the others tried to find a way for them to finish her off. The red gem settled for a bit of Pyrite's shoulder and sunk her teeth into it. The great gem roared in anger and finally managed to grab Garnet's arm. She tossed the fusion away and grabbed Fluortie's strong body. She kicked at Chrysoberyl to knock her away, giving her enough time to charge a blast up. She let go of Fluorite and then immediately flung the ball into her face. A large explosion came from the blast, and she was no more but a gem on the ground. She turned to Chrysoberyl and leaped at her, fists raised up high.

"Just die you worthless hunk of stone!" She roared as her fists came crashing down.

The golden gem raised her arms up to block the assault, but the damage from them prior made them brittle. They shattered like glass, and her head was completely caved in. The two fists rended her chest, exposing her torso cavity and her misshapen gem, and the great golem collapsed.

Garnet rose back up but was immediately captured by Feldspar's tendrils. The fusion struggled in their grasp but the painful shocks were too much for her. Pyrite rushed over to finish off Obsidian and Sardonyx while Feldspar proudly put her boot on Garnet's back.

"Seems that it's all over." She commented.

Garnet growled and thrashed to get free.

"My word you are a stubborn lot. You're acting like this is the end for all of you! But don't worry, I need to harvest your gem's codes so I can make more of you to experiment with. You and your friends shall stay in my prison and witness this stupid planet you hold so dearly be drained and stripped into nothing but a mere husk of it's-"

Garnet grunted as she managed to tear out of her bindings. One hand was free, but immediately pinned down by a blade coming from Feldspar's arm. She seethed in pain as the shocking intensified as well.

"Rude of you to try to run away like that. I'll make sure the new yous are trained in proper etiquette." She sneered.

"You...haven't won yet. We always find a way...and we still have Tourmaline to stop you!" Garnet threatened.

Feldspar moved her other foot and stomped down on her prey's head, forcing it against the hot stone as she laughed.

"Tourmaline? What's to be worried about he's a punk! A stupid youngster who takes orders from even more foolish leaders. But hey...at least you have faith in him.".

She upped the voltage to it's highest setting and it was finally enough to poof the powerful fusion. She picked up her stones and looked to see Pyrite with her foot in Sardonyx's stomach and her fist currently obliterating Obsidian's head. The remaining monstrosities stared on at Pyrite with various growls. The giant gem glared back at them, the warning look being enough to send them running back to their area in the ship. Pyrite stumbled back towards Feldspar with a triumphant smile.

"It's all over." She stated.

"Yes. We can finally start with the harvest of Earth." Feldspar said as she tapped away at the pad in her arm, "Black Opal, do you hear me?".

"Yes my leader." Her dreary voice responded.

"All is taken care of. Gather all the gemstones out here and then place them in their specified cells." Feldspar ordered.

"Right away.".

The communication line ended and Feldspar looked at the exhausted giant.

"Go rest. You'll need all the strength you can muster once we start the invasion.".

/**/

Tourmaline and the elites walked across the barren fields where Pyrite was last at. Azurite took the lead, staring straight down at the ground as she crawled on all fours, following tracks visible only to her. Tourmaline felt his entire body twinge with energy with each step. The anticipation to destroy his enemy overwhelming him. He would finally put an end to everything. Tsavorite and Bloodstone looked at his face to see a twisted and angry expression on face.

"You're really getting amped up for this fight." Bloodstone commented, "Is this gem really that strong?".

"Yes." Tsavorite answered, "I fought her myself and was nearly killed by her. She said she was only at sixty percent. Which begs the question Tourmaline: why do you think you can defeat her?".

"I won't hold anything back. I don't care if I lose control. Not against her." He said coldly.

Tourmaline frowned, yet his stoic eyes remained unchanged.

"I believe that there is good in all forms of life. I was spared by a gem who taught me this. She was...my best friend. My everything. I threw away my entire ideology because of her and turned over a new leaf as the gem you see now. That's why I didn't go all out and killed you, but I have and shall do the opposite for Pyrite and everything linked to her." He explained.

Azurite stopped and bent over backwards to look at the stern boy.

"Geez buddy. What'd she do to tick you off so badly?" She asked.

Tourmaline grit his teeth and balled his hands into fists so tightly his nails nearly cut into his palms.

"She took my best friend away from me. She took my family away from me. I laid injured worse than I could ever imagine and she wiped them off the face of the Earth...and she laughed!" He roared out, his head hanging low &amp; stopping in his tracks, "I thought I killed her back then, but I didn't. She has returned to haunt and torture me. She has already taken others precious to me and I won't stand for it anymore. I will tear her apart, and no one will get in my way or help. She's mine to kill.".

Tsavorite walked over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. Tourmaline looked up at her, showing tears in his eyes.

"She's taken so much. So much that can't ever be replaced." He seethed.

Bloodstone joined them and looked down at her comrade with empathy.

"We understand what it feels like to have our worlds torn apart. Your wish is to be respected, but if the possibility of you dying appears, we will intervene." The stained gem stated and walked back to follow Azurite, "Not that it will anyway.".

Tourmaline followed her and Tsavorite stayed by his side.

"It will be over soon friend. Our diamond will soon be with us, this threat will be gone and then we can focus on our mission." The spattered gem promised.

"And what that might mission be?" He asked.

"The destruction of-".

Azurite made an odd noise and all eyes were on her. The four gems made it to a giant ravine. They walked to the edge and looked down to see a giant hole at the bottom of the giant gash in the Earth. The green and blue gem pointed down at the hole.

"There. That's where she dwells." She declared, "Though something is odd. I see tons of other signs of other gems here. A group of powerful gems were here quite a bit after Pyrite came her...and I sense three weak gems are here. Their scent is fresh.".

The hairs on the back of Tourmaline's neck sprung up as a sense of dread enveloped him. He was about to leap down ahead of the rest of the gems but Bloodstone's massive hand held him in place.

"Do not rush into enemy territory head first. We go together, and we go quietly." She ordered.

Tourmaline scowled at her, but relented with a sigh. He felt a rubbery thing wrap itself around his waist. The tan green gem looked down to see Azurite's gauntlet spawning vivid blue ribbons that tied the waists of the other two gems.

"I gots the lead. The moment something approaches we teleport and gank em if they get too close. Let's move out." Azurite declared as she leapt down to the cave entrance, dragging the other gems with her.

There was only one phrase going through Tourmaline's mind now. Every idea of the painful way he will kill Pyrite was replaced by this sentence: Please be safe Steven and Taz.

/**/

Steven, Taz and Talc slowly creeped through the cave. The jagged stone and stalagmites made excellent cover for the small group. Each step they took was taken with the most delicate care as to not alert anything that Feldspar may have placed for any further intruders. Talc nearly slipped on the wet stone, but Taz stopped the fall with her telekinesis.

"Thanks." He whispered.

She smiled back at him with a nod.

The three made it to the clearing in front of Feldspar's base. They frowned to see that although a violent battle did occur here, the end result was far from what they hoped. Crushed and burnt rock, water filling every crevice, and Chrysoberyl's broken body in the middle of the field. A strange gem was picking up what could only be their friends, bubbling them and warping them away. The dark gem had her back turned to them as she went to investigate the broken golem's corpse. Steven nudged his two friends and slid down the wet slope as quietly as he could. Taz and Talc followed and they quickly rushed into a hole. As they ran into the hole, to their shock they made a loud splash. The three of them stood ankle deep in a warm puddle, no doubt alerting the gem scavenging the battlefield.

Black Opal quickly turned to the source of the noise and started walking towards it. The three gems quickly slammed their backs against the wall hoping that they were out of sight. Taz looked down and fortunately due to the darkness of the hole, their reflections did not appear. They could now feel the gem's presence as she peered down into the ditch. She got down on her hands and knees and leaned over to look into the pit. She stared into the puddle but something caught her eye. The three gems were sweating bullets as they saw her long clawed arm slowly reached down into the pit. Her arm stopped halfway down, but the hand that was trapped in her arm tore itself out of the back of her original hand. The sound of bone snapping and flesh stretching echoed throughout the dark cave as the three of them stared on in horror, afraid to be captured already. The hand reached the bottom of the pool and it's fingers cut through the water like blades through butter. She slid her fingers a foot to the right, and then scooped up a small, misshapen gem. It was black with colorful overtones. The extra arm retracted into its original place. It passed the stone off and went back into it's hole.

Black Opal bubbled the gem and sent it to her master. She stared up at the slope that lead to the outside and thought to herself.

"If a gem made it this far, maybe there's another one in the tunnel. Lacerator found those two and managed to put them down...so the possibility of it grabbing another gem is possible." She thought to herself, but the truth was she just wanted to walk outside. It was tiring and depressing to stay holed up in the base, so she should take this opportunity to get some form of personal break.

The gem leaped up the slope and slowly walked deeper into the tunnel.

Steven and the others couldn't believe the level of luck they had. Not squandering it, they slowly shimmied through the cracks to sneak over to Feldspar's base. On the way there, they were close to Chrysoberyl's body. The three of them stopped, and silently communicated that they had to get something from her. Talc raised Taz high enough for her to see the late gem's stone in her chest. Using her powers, she lifted the stone out of it's place and brought it towards her. She snatched it and handed it to Steven. He placed it in his pocket, gave the two gems a thumbs up and they continued on their way.

"Hope this is the only one of our friends like this." Talc commented.

The three eventually made it to the wall of the fort. The three of them spotted the hole that was made in the previous battle. Taz's gem glowed once again and the three of them were lifted off the ground and into the hole. She gently placed them down and she nearly fell over with a groan. Steven stopped her and looked at the tired gem.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

She nodded, "It's ok.".

"Alright, we're not out of the woods yet. Let's get our friends." Talc declared.

/**/

Black Opal walked along the wall of the cave, dragging her hand along it's cold surface as lost herself in deep thought. She felt tired and resentful towards everything. She barely did anything to help during the crystal gem's onslaught other than leave the defense system on autopilot. The system Feldspar developed was most impressive to her dismay. The only reason the Homeworld gems lost was due to the shock of seeing the nightmares that Feldspar contorted and shaped to be. They were lucky. If the gems were less shaken by their appearance, they would've lost. But her leader is so blinded by her own arrogance that she can't see that even with the materials of the Earth, their battle is a lost cause. But it didn't matter to her, nothing mattered anymore.

She kicked a stone and it flew upwards, landing with a loud clack followed by smaller echoes as it rolled across the ground. However the sound continued even when the stone stopped. The bluish black gem stopped walking and started looking around. Had one of the gems from the battlefield regenerate? No it was impossible. She scanned that entire battlefield twice, only missing Black Pearl's gemstone due to it's odd position. She looked behind her, and she was then enveloped by a mysterious force. Her mouth and eyes were covered up and she was yanked by her limbs and head backwards. She fell to the stone floor and felt her limbs being pinned down. The substance around her mouth tightened but the fold around her eyes was removed. She looked up to see three mysterious gems. She turned her head to see Tourmaline staring down at her. She started to plead for Tourmaline to let her go through her bindings. The tan green gem raised an eyebrow at her muffled pleading.

"You know this gem?" Azurite asked.

Tourmaline shook his head. Tsavorite drew her blade and aimed it down at the small gem on Black Opal's forehead. The beastly gem thrashed and screamed through her gag, begging them to stop.

"Then she's an enemy. Let's get her out of the way." The green black gem stated.

Tourmaline raised his hand up.

"Wait. Something seems wrong with her. She seems so scared." He said.

"That's how most people feel when they're about to be axed." Azurite chuckled.

He shook his head again.

"No. This is different. Remove the gag." He requested.

Azurite raised an eyebrow but shrugged. Tsavorite refused to move.

"Call for help or scream and you're dead." She threatened.

The binding was gone and Black Opal calmed down. She looked up at Tourmaline and smiled.

"I knew you would come...but I didn't expect reinforcements." She said sincerely.

Tourmaline cocked his head and pressed on her arm harder.

"I don't have time for jokes. Tell me everything I need to know now." He demanded.

"And what would that be? I'm guessing your friends first. Don't worry, they're not dead. Well...one of them might be but I'm not too certain." The freakish gem stated.

Tourmaline raised his foot off of her arm and stomped down on it. She seethed with pain, but did not scream as her orders forbade it.

"Who died?" He asked.

"The big golden one. Chrysoberyl if I remember correctly. Her gem was unharmed but her body was damaged beyond repair. She can't form without it. I apologize for that." She said.

Tourmaline growled.

"Listen! I know that you want your friends back but you can't do it with sheer force. You need to sneak in, and I can help you." She offered.

Bloodstone glared down at her.

"Why should we listen to you?" She questioned.

"Because Feldspar isn't my master." Black Opal stated.

They gazed at her with puzzled stares. The dark gem looked towards Tourmaline.

"Do you recognize my gems? They belonged to a couple of gems before." She said.

Tourmaline took a closer look at the stone in her forehead. He motioned his head to signal the others to roll her over. They did so and revealed two stones on her lower back near her tail.

"These belonged to Liddicoatite." He concluded.

Black Opal chuckled, Azurite's knee on her upper back between her shoulder blades.

"Yes...they belong to her. And this gem on my forehead? Belongs to Charoite. Feldspar promised Liddicoatite a way to change Charoite back, change her to her normal self once again. But that was a lie. She didn't care about them, she cared about making slaves and soldiers. The last memory I have of them is them screaming in agony, resenting everything about Feldspar. I don't want to serve that bitch...I want to take everything away from her and make it mine." Black Opal explained.

Tourmaline scratched his chin.

"Everything for yourself? You mean continue her work?".

"Yes and no. I want to fix what she has done to the others and change her method into something great. She has the power to give life to powerful creatures but they're just mindless monsters. She takes away any chance of humanity they have, but she's satisfied with the results. I on the other hand am not. I don't want the evolution of our race to be a bunch of mutated freaks like myself, but I don't want it to be ruled by tyrannical diamonds either." She continued.

Tsavorite, Azurite and Bloodstone looked at each other.

"Think about it Tourmaline...all of this is the Homeworld's fault! Feldspar would still be a recluse in the Homeworld slums if she weren't able to manipulate her diamond. Pyrite would've stayed sealed forever. Your family would still be whole. You think your little team up with the Homeworld gems will cause them to stop attacking Earth? Of course not! But I can give you what you need! I am just as smart if not smarter than that twisted psycho. I can help you protect this Earth, if you trust me...if you help me...if you let me go." Black Opal finished.

Tourmaline stared down at her with shocked and confused eyes. She made very valid points that shook his views on everything. The Homeworld attacked the crystal gems first. They sent soldiers to kill them, and they would've died if it weren't for him and his friends saving them. The Earth, which Ruby, Sapphire and Tanzanite fought so hard to protect, would be gone and their deaths would've been for nothing. As strong as he and his friends were, there was no way they could take on an entire army by themselves. They needed this. The other gems already were on board with the idea. Tourmaline raised his hand up.

"Azurite...let her go." He asked.

The blue green gem did as instructed and her bandages slid off of the dark gem's body. Tourmaline helped her up, but to her shock he brought her in close, his head in her solar plexus and his nails digging around her gems.

"If you're lying to us, you die first. If you aren't...the Earth must stay safe and stay healthy." He threatened.

She nodded in agreement.

"I refuse to betray you and yes...I can guarantee that the Earth will suffer a bit, but it won't be irreparable harm. I just need enough to start a force and we can harvest abandoned planets." She stated.

Tourmaline let her go, and all eyes were on her.

"So then...what would you like to do to end her miserable existence?" Black Opal asked.

Tourmaline stepped forward and moved a little deeper into the cave before stopping.

"Help me call out Pyrite, and the rest is up to you guys." He requested.

They nodded in agreement. Tourmaline turned and tossed Green Diamond's and Jet's gems to Azurite. The diamond was glowing slightly.

"It's safest with you." He said.

She nodded in agreement, but Black Opal snatched them out of her hands.

"Actually I'll hold these for now. You three will need to find a way onto my body first." She stated, "I can sneak you in, and we'll take it from there.".

The others were skeptical, but they shrank in size and latched onto the gem. Black Opal picked up the group and placed them inside her jacket. She turned to Tourmaline and smiled at him.

"Take me as a hostage. I'll lead you to the base, Feldspar won't blast you with the base's defenses, and you can bargain my life for your chance against Pyrite." She proposed.

He grabbed her by the shoulder, spun her around and yanked her arm behind her back.

"Let's get walking." He said.

"Oh! One more thing. There's something interesting you need to know about Pyrite…".

/**/

Deep inside the facility, the sounds of banging metal could be heard echoing from the dungeon bridge. Ruby, Obsidian and Sardonyx tried desperately to break out of their cells, but their effort was meaningless. Ruby roared out in frustration, fell to her knees and curled up in a ball. Right behind her, Sapphire was sitting in next room over, sitting calmly trying to think of a way to escape, viewing all the possible branches of the future. Most of them looked bleak, but there were options that presented hope. However, there wasn't much they could do to move towards those paths. The others accepted that they were stuck, either sitting or lying down. The feeling of incarceration already whittling at their souls. Each of the gems had their individual worries, but outside of Ametrine's crew, everyone was worried about Steven and the others.

"Grah! Why is this happening again!?" Ruby shouted.

"Ruby, stay calm. We can't do anything at this time. I have foreseen it." Sapphire stated.

The small red gem clenched her teeth and went into a fetal position. Everything was awful, and not just because they were trapped.

"How could she be so heartless? How can she take fusion and play with their lives like that!?" She cried out.

"What? It's just fusion." Peridot commented.

Ruby flared up, tears in her eyes at she charged at the wall in front of her. She punched the wall hard enough to make a loud echo, causing the green gem to flinch and back away from it.

"Shut up! You know nothing about fusion!" She screamed.

"What's to get!?" Peridot argued.

"Everything." Jasper interjected.

Peridot looked across to the opposing jail cell to see Jasper sitting and staring at Peridot.

"There are more to these gems then we've...I've given them credit for. There's no reason to antagonize them for what they do. And besides, we're all on the same side whether we like it or not." The orange gem explained.

Peridot raised an eyebrow to her former escort.

"What have they done to your brain?" She asked.

"Nothing you smartass.".

Amethyst chuckled at that retort.

"At least we can talk. Figured she would hook us up to weird wires and machines and junk." The small purple gem joked.

"Don't even speak about that." Tanza requested from a few cells down.

"Ugh...this isn't how I thought things would go." Ametrine admitted, "Just in and out, take out the crazy gem who's allied with Rose and be done with it.".

"She's not on our side you idiot!" Pearl shouted.

"Treat our leader with respect!" Kunzite yelled.

"You be quiet!" Danburite joined in.

"No sass from a pearl!" Spodumene added.

"Can you stop with the pearl remarks!? Things like that are the reason I stepped out of your stupid society." Black Pearl added.

"Spodumene, apologize that was a very rude thing to say. And are you serious about that?" Ametrine asked.

"Yes! In fact we've been trying to take her and Pyrite down too!" She answered.

"I can vouch for her." Fluorite added.

"Same here." Heliodor stated.

There was a spur of silence.

"Hm, well I guess that's good. I kinda like this planet and a few of you gems. Sort of lamented the fact that you were linked to Feld, but it's in the past now." The tall purple gem beamed.

"Will your leader Rose save us?" Morganite asked.

Another brief silence as the mention of Rose made the crystal gems feel awkward.

"Rose is...gone." Pearl said.

A collective gasp was heard.

"What!? How?! What...why!?" Morganite sputtered.

"It's a long story bud. Considering the time we got...is it alright if we tell em about it?" Amethyst asked.

"How do we know you gems won't use this information against us?" Pearl stated.

"My group is neutral amongst all diamonds. We just do what we want and try to keep politics out of it. This gig was going to get us a beautiful new planet to call our own!" Ametrine stated.

"You sure about the beautiful part?" Rubellite asked.

"...now that you mention it she could be scamming me!".

"Is this lady for real?" Elbaite thought.

"It doesn't matter anyway. We're going to die. Either here or back at Homeworld." Carnelian stated.

Jasper looked up at the red gem's cell above Sapphire's.

"Wait...what are you saying?".

"I'm saying that Yellow Diamond is tired of your failures. They've made her bitter, and angry. She's decreed that if this mission isn't a success, we're dead. And given the circumstances of having to be saved by Earth gems, this isn't a success. Also for you two, you were destined to die either way." Carnelian explained.

Jasper stared up in silence. Chalcedony, in the next cell, shrugged at her.

"Sorry. That's how it is.".

Jasper punched the wall of the cell and seethed with strife. She threw her back against the wall and slowly slid down it. Lapis stared at the pitiful sight with silence. Peridot fell over and felt the same pain that Jasper felt. Pearl felt sorry for the two of them, even if they were former enemies. She opened her mouth to speak but the sound of two gems groaning was heard.

"What's all this noise?" Axinite asked out loud.

Carnelian looked to see her getting up from a cell far left from her.

"Oh! Axinite! I thought you were dead." She said calmly.

"What...Carnelian? Homeworld sent you?".

"Yeah. With Chalcedony and the shattered gems. But as you can see...things didn't go well.".

The russet gem sighed and slumped against a wall.

"I should've never taken pity on that outcast." She spat.

"You did what you thought was right. None of us were expecting this." Chalcedony assured her.

"What's that? Things are worse than I thought?" Iolite questioned.

Heliodor immediately sprung to life at the sound of her lover's voice.

"Iolite?!" She called out.

The purple gem was revived.

"Heliodor!? You're alive!" Iolite beamed.

"Yes! I'll get you out of here I swear it! Did she hurt you!?" She asked.

"No. But...where are the others?".

Heliodor scratched the back of her neck.

"Well now...I guess we can pass the time by talking. Just because things look awful, it doesn't mean we can't make a bit of conversation before our inevitable deaths." Rubellite said.

"When you put it like that...what the heck may as well right?" Chalcedony said.

"Sure. I've missed a lot." Axinite said.

"And maybe you can tell us about Rose?" Morganite asked.

Pearl had a stern expression on her face.

"I'll tell you what. We make it out of here alive, and I'll tell you everything." Pearl promised.

The pink gem smiled.

"Deal!".

/**/

On a holographic display, various angles of the prisoners cells were displayed. Feldspar was sitting on a chair with various plugs inserted into her cybernetic parts. She had a sour expression on her face as she listened to the gems prattle on about drivel she already knew about or didn't care about. Pyrite stepped out from behind her and turned the projection off.

"Even in the face of death they're still remaining optimistic. How admirably stupid." She spat.

"Indeed. Makes this victory feel even more empty." Feldspar admitted.

Pyrite had a confused expression on her face.

"What do you mean? You seemed relatively happy a few minutes ago.".

She removed her cybernetic arm from the plugs and stretched it out.

"I was. Nothing can stand in my way now. What little remains of this world's defenses can easily be crushed by our forces, and we can harvest this planet to make an army of millions. Everything is as it should be. But I was expecting a much more intense battle. Something cataclysmic that would be the first significant start to my galaxy wide revolution. Now that it's over and everything is secured...I just feel robbed." The grey gem lamented.

Pyrite scratched her head. An understanding yet stern expression was on her face.

"I know what you're talking about. Taking those chumps was a great fun, but my main course was nowhere to be seen." She walked over to the display window to look out at the ruined battlefield, "I hunted him down once, I can do it again, but it won't have the same impact of just his allies falling one by one in front of him. His hopes slowly dying out as they are downed. How will it be any different from the other times we fought? I can crush him easily by myself as well. At least I'm fairly certain I can.".

As she scanned over the battlefield, she witnessed Black Opal walking towards the base.

"Hm, Black Opal's back." Pyrite said.

The dark gem fell face first to the ground. The person responsible placed his foot on her back. Pyrite's bored expression shifted to an eerily happy smile. Tourmaline stared up at the base with an angry and determined expression.

"Pyrite!" He roared out, "Come out and face me you coward! Or your cronie dies!".

He stomped on her back as a warning, getting a pained cry from the pinned gem. Pyrite looked over to Feldspar with a great smile.

"Well this certainly is the greatest of all coincidences." She declared.

Feldspar got up and looked up to her daughter.

"Are you certain about this? You were just in a violent scuffle." The cyborg brought up.

Pyrite summoned her grieves and started to swell up.

"This won't take long." She declared.

Feldspar reached to her hip and ripped out a piece of metal. The metal thing floated upwards and hovered around Pyrite.

"Make sure he stays away from the base. I'll be able to watch you with this, along with the rest of them." She pressed a few panels on her wrist and it activated her holographic display.

She pat her hip and smiled up at the great gem.

"Go put on a show for me.".

With that, the giant gem jumped through the display case and went straight down towards Tourmaline. She shook her head with annoyance but activated the display, showing the image of the monstrous gem landing on the ground with a giant boom. The dust cleared and Pyrite stood in front of Tourmaline with a devious, cocky smile.

"Yo!" She said.

Tourmaline couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Yo? It's our last fight and that's all you can say to me?" He mocked.

"Words are meaningless. We'll speak with actions." She argued.

Tourmaline shrugged.

"Sure. But first…" He released Black Opal, picked her up with one hand and shoved her towards Pyrite with the other hand, "...get her out of the way.".

Black Opal rushed towards the base. Pyrite took a few steps forward and pointed to the exit tunnel.

"Let's go outside and fight. We'll have a bit more solid ground to work with." She stated.

Tourmaline nodded, turned and rushed over to the exit with his titanic opponent following him.

From her other display, she could hear the desperate pleadings from Tourmaline's friends begging him not to fight her head on. It was music to her ears. She sat back in her charging station and looked on at the wonderful display.

A few floors down, Steven and his allies had witnessed the whole thing. Their faces were contorted with fear and worry for him. Steven rushed ahead and the others followed.

"Come on guys we gotta get the others asap now!" He said.

Meanwhile in the bottom of the base Black Opal opened her jacket up, letting the three other gems return to their natural size with Azurite holding Green Diamond and Jet's gemstones.

"Alright, she has no surveillance system for the interior of the ship so you're safe in that regard. While he's busy distracting Pyrite, we can take over the base. Bloodstone, go find Tourmaline's allies. Make sure that they're alive and well, then free them. Tsavorite, come with me. We're killing Feldspar. Azurite...watch over Tourmaline. Save him the instant something goes wrong." Black Opal spoke, "Alright, you all understand.".

The three nodded in agreement with Azurite teleporting away as soon as she finished nodding her head.

"Great. Let's pull this coup d'etat." She said morbidly.

/**/

Tourmaline and Pyrite stared each other down from a few feet away. The previously sunny morning was giving way into a dark overcast. Pyrite had swelled to the point of eighty percent of her power, so she towered over the small fusion with a confident grin.

"Scared?" She asked.

Tourmaline remained steadfast.

"Nope.".

The beastly gem gave out a hearty laughter.

"Oh Tourmaline...are you blind or just stupid? All the times I've beaten you down, beaten you and your friends down, you've only been able to beat me because it was ten to one. But now, all of your friends locked away deep in my home. Each of them battered, crushed or burned to the point they couldn't take it anymore and faded out." She chuckled a bit, "You should've been there.".

Tourmaline continued to stare at her, keeping his composure as to not fly off the handle and do something reckless.

"Wouldn't have made much of a difference anyways. I'm just happy that I have you all to myself. I can beat you down, let you come back, and keep doing it until you are completely broken. I'll let you watch your friends be picked off, tortured and transformed into tools of our destruction, and then you'll join them just the same.".

Tourmaline heaved a sigh, causing a feeling of slight confusion to come from Pyrite.

"Guess I'll enjoy this way more than I thought." He stated.

He slid his jacket off one arm at a time as Pyrite summoned her cestus. As the jacket slowly fell off of his right arm, he grabbed the inside of the sleeve and threw it at Pyrite as hard as he could. The green jacket flew through the air so fast it was as if it were a sling rather than a piece of clothing. Pyrite didn't see the thing coming and the green article of clothing went across her face. She instinctively reached up and threw the thing to the ground, looking up to see two spiked shoes a foot from her face. They connected to her giant mouth and she felt Tourmaline press off of her head. She felt a few teeth fly to the back of her throat and a bit of blood leak from her lips. The tan green gem landed on the ground and then spin kicked the side of her left knee. The blade sunk into her flesh, but it was nothing compared to the pain to come. She felt a burning explosion erupted from her knee and she stumbled a bit. Tourmaline acted quickly, removing his bladed shoe and then front kicked her right knee. The strong impact caused her to fall backwards on her behind. She shook her head and scowled at her opponent, who had a bewildered look on his face. The two of them were at eye level now.

"Damn. Even sitting flat on your ass you're still huge." He commented.

Pyrite gnashed her teeth and attempted to rise back up, but Tourmaline knocked her back down with a leaping knee to her chin. As her head flew back, he noticed a flash of a silver liquid. He smiled, having confirmed Black Opal's crucial information.

"I always had my suspicions, but I think I finally figured it out. Main question was why the hell you would always stay in a form that leaves you a lot weaker than you are. And even when you're in your "weaker" state, you're still a tough nut to crack." He started.

She slowly rose up and glared at Tourmaline.

"Yeah I'm strong what the hell are you getting at?" She growled.

"You also lose that black layer on your body. And you seem to take more of a beating when you power up." He continued.

Pyrite was silent, a worried expression appearing on her face.

"So it hit me. That skin layer isn't for show, it's for defense. It holds you back and in exchange for losing protection you get a lot of power. Would be a pretty solid trade if it weren't so extreme in both directions" He pointed at her face, "I mean come on! You've already lost a few teeth and I broke your nose! I'm not even going all out yet and I've already drawn blood from ya.".

Pyrite grit her teeth, a bit of blood leaked from her cut lip. Tourmaline then stomped on her stomach and kicked her square in the face again, releasing another ball of energy in her face. He jumped off her gut and a small bit of blood spurted from her belly wound. Tourmaline finally got into his fighting pose and glared down at her.

"Get the hell up. Even if your defense is shit now a few love taps like that aren't gonna take you down." He claimed.

As she laid on the ground, her distressed expression turned into a smile. She rocked her body back and jumped back up. The silver gem had burn marks on her face and a trickle of blood leaking from her mouth.

"You know...I thought this was going to be a simple victory for me. Looks like this is going to be a lot more fun than I thought." She said as her muscles swelled.

Tourmaline also grinned.

"Just try to keep up." He mocked.

From the entrance to Feldspar's cave, Azurite watched on out of sight.

"This is gonna be good." She snickered.

/**/

Feldspar had a sour look on her face as she witnessed the start of the fight. How someone as dull as Tourmaline managed to figure out Pyrite's weakness after so few encounters was beyond her. The icing on the irritation cake was hearing the cheers of hope from the prison wing. She pressed a button and that display vanished. She slumped in her chair as she witnessed the continuation of the battle. Tourmaline circled around him and peppered her with balls of green energy while Pyrite fired silver balls of energy in retaliation. His speed was a clear advantage as each blast missed him. The cyborg heaved a sigh and slumped back into her chair.

The door slid open from behind her and Black Opal walked into the room. She stood and stared as the back of her leader's chair.

"How did Tourmaline catch you exactly?" She asked condescendingly.

The dark bluish gem glared at her.

"He just jumped me." The fusion admitted.

Feldspar scoffed.

"You're lucky that you are such a valuable aspect to my research, otherwise I would've let Pyrite take you and Tourmaline out at once.".

A burst of black energy tore through her body, tearing apart her chest and physical shoulder. The arm faded into nothingness and she fell over to her side. Shocked, in pain, and confused, she looked up to see Black Opal lording over her with a dead frown on her face. In her hand she had a gun like weapon in her hand. The butt was bladed and shaped like an axe head, the barrel was long and broad, and two chain like bands held a large ball of dark blue energy on the top of it. It was more like a triggered slingshot instead of a firearm, but as she fired another round at her cybernetic leg, a small ball of blue energy charged up and pushed the sling end back into position. The blast took out the robotic leg and a decent portion of the floor. She desperately lashed out with her other arm, but it was quickly sliced off by Tsavorite. The only thing left as her single leg and gem. The deformed gem walked over to her chair and took a seat, looking at her pitiful former master.

"You know...I was thinking about what to say to you in your last moments, but I don't think it's worth it. My words shouldn't be wasted on a pitiful, disgusting gem such as you. Your ideas for gem evolution are perverted and wrong, but not entirely unusable. You were just so...desperate to go back to the Homeworld and show how wonderful your work was. But that impatience has cost you dearly. But don't worry, I will continue your work and make it right. Believe it or not but this fusion has greatly increased my mental capacity. I can make this better...I can make this work. And don't worry, I'll show the Homeworld our genius. Pity you will not see it." Black Opal prattled on, then firing another round right at Feldspar's gem.

In one moment she was there, and in the next moment all that was left was a few pieces of augmentations. With that, Black Opal had a satisfied smile on her face. She giggled a bit as the feeling of freedom washed over her. Tsavorite stepped forward and looked at the fight Tourmaline was having. Surprisingly enough, he was gaining an upper hand by fighting smartly. Only going in when absolutely safe and then backing off, keeping up pressure with projectiles. It was quite a spectacle to see.

"So what now?" The green black gem asked.

Black Opal got up from the chair and walked over to the front control panel.

"I ready the base to get ready to leave. The crystal gems will need some time to...come to terms with what we're doing, so it'd be best if they don't bother us for a bit.".

"True. What was that about Feldspar's work?" Tsavorite asked.

"Don't worry about it. It's fairly ghoulish now but it can be remedied and made better. Just need time to figure things out." Black Opal promised.

/**/

The various gems cheered Tourmaline on as they witnessed his battle with Pyrite. Their fears turned to hope as he continued to beat her down. Ruby grinned as she saw Tourmaline kick her in the neck, a splash of blood appearing from the area he hit. Pyrite managed to grab his leg and attempted to crush it, but the agile gem twisted in her grip and slammed his leg across her eyes. She dropped the boy and covered her eyes. Tourmaline breathed heavily and Pyrite stood, stunned by that attack.

"Yeah that's it beat her down!" Ametrine called out.

"You can do it!" Tanza cheered.

"End it quickly!" Carnelian yelled.

"Destroy her!" Pearl shouted.

Tourmaline wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and stared up at the giant gem with confidence.

"Wow, this is getting sad. Guess my friends beat the crap out of you beforehand if you're this sluggish." He taunted.

"Heck yeah we did!" Amethyst gloated.

"Alright, I think that's enough talk. I'll take you out right now and take over the rest of your base. Face it...you've lost." He said sternly.

Pyrite moved her hand from her face, revealing a stoic, black expression. She stood up straight and stared down at Tourmaline with her black eyes. Her arms were positioned a bit from her sides, the palms facing Tourmaline. She clenched her hands tightly into fists, and the ground started to rumble.

"Me...lose? No...that doesn't happen. That never happens. You got lucky the first time we fought. The only reason you're alive is because of dumb luck. With all your little theories, you're probably thinking that this is all that I'm capable of too. Well you're sorely mistaken...you have no idea how truly out of your depth you are. These were just pity shots, now you'll feel my true wrath and pow-!" Her growls turning to shouts.

"Shut up." Tourmaline interrupted her.

She was silent, and he gave a sigh.

"Blah blah blah, have you always been all talk?" He asked.

She was quiet for a bit, and then a titanic beam of energy surrounded her as she flexed her entire body. As the light engulfed her form, she started to grow once again, this time instead of her height, it was her body. Arms, legs, torso and head expanded into a great mass of muscle. A series of spikes shot up through her arms and back skin, completely covering the two beefy appendages and most of her shoulders. The light from her form disappeared, revealing Pyrite's true form. Silver spikes coated her arms, her cestus now practically fused to her hands due to their expansion. Her remaining patches of black skin now covered her chrome body in small cracks, the clothing that covered her body now gone, leaving her sexless body exposed to the elements. Her face was just as beastly as before, but on her forehead, a new third eye opened up. It shined like platinum, it's iris black as an eclipse, while her other eyes were just pools of silver. Her teeth were like a beast's as she gnashed them at Tourmaline. She was a veritable monster now.

Tourmaline stared up at the titan with his jaw agape. The gems spectating from their cells were terrified by the horrific transformation. Pyrite looked down at him, her livid expression unchanging.

"This is what I am. One-hundred percent power, no holding back." She growled, "I'll erase you from existence you miserable little brat. No one has ever defeated me like this. Time to die Tourmaline!".

The great gem rushed at him with insane speed. Before Tourmaline could react, a fist as big as his upper half slammed into him and sent him flying upwards. He flew up to the top of the cliff and bounded onto the plains above. He laid there, clenching his torso in agony. If he had ribs they would've been cracked or shattered by now. He heard a giant impact and looked up to see Pyrite hurtling towards him. He moved quickly and avoided being crushed, the impact big enough to create a shockwave of dust and debris. A portion of the ground slowly slided towards the ravine as Pyrite charged towards Tourmaline. The shoken up boy regained his composure and charged towards her. He leaped up and kicked her in the face, slicing it open. As chrome blood spilled from her cheek, she slammed Tourmaline with her spiked arm, knocking him to the ground with a vicious lariat. His chest and stomach were punctured by the spiked arm, making many different, violent gashes on his body as he was slammed to the ground. The great gem looked back to the boy and stomped down, but he was nimble enough to dodge out of the way. His wounds weren't closing up, he was using too much energy to regenerate. Things were starting to look grim for him.

"Damn...didn't think she would get this much of a boost in power. This is gonna be harder than I thought...impossible even." He thought to himself.

Azurite teleported up to the other side of the ravine and watched the carnage ensue from there. The tables had turned, but Tourmaline wasn't down and out.

"Come on man you can do this." She said under her breath.

Her concentration was broken by the strong light given off by her diamond's gem.

"Hm? Are you ready my diamond?" The blue green gem asked it.

Meanwhile, the crystal and Homeworld gems went back to attempting to break down their cell walls. If they didn't act fast, Tourmaline was going to die, this was a fact. Sapphire looked down and felt a deep sadness. There's always a chance he made it out alive, but the odds were stacked against him this time around.

"Break damn you!" Sardonyx shouted.

It was no use. They were stuck, and he was doomed. Tanza felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"No...please don't take him away." She pleaded quietly.

The sounds of their desperate attempts at escape drowned out the sound of footsteps echoing towards them. Peridot was silent as she couldn't even attempt to break free with how weak she was. She looked at the broken down gate to see two small gems and a mid sized one run into the room. She then recognized one of them as Steven. She got up to her feet and waved at him.

"It's the Steven! Let me out, let me out now!" She called out.

The gems stopped for a bit to see the small boy, girl and white gem.

"Steven!" Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby and Sapphire shouted.

"Taz!" Tanza yelled out.

"Talc!" Elbaite, Dravite, Rubellite and Pegmatite called out.

Steven immediately went to help out Ruby and Sapphire first.

"Wait! Free me! Free me first I can help the others too!" Peridot called out.

Steven looked to see Peridot.

"Oh wow you're a lot smaller and cuter than I last remembered.".

She blushed a bit.

"Not the time!" She squealed angrily.

Steven shook his head and jogged over to her.

"You're right not the time or place." He walked into the forcefield and held his arm out to the side.

He started vibrating as the little gem crawled under his arm and scampered towards Jasper's cell. Steven went to get Ruby and Sapphire out of their cells while Peridot pressed a few buttons on the panel next to Jasper's cell. The yellow wall of light disappeared and Jasper was free.

"It's just the same as the cell controls on our ship. Get everyone else out!" Peridot ordered.

She nodded, running out of the cell and leaping up to the second level of prison cells. Ruby and Sapphire were freed, immediately clinging to each other and starting to fuse. One by one, all the gems escaped their cells. Steven was hugged by Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst. Taz was held up high in Tanza's arms with Sardonyx and Obsidian at their side. All of shattered gems leaped in a circle in a giant group hug. Carnelian, Chalcedony, Axinite, Jasper and Peridot gathered around, happy to be together once again. Elbaite's group practically threw Talc up in the air in excitement. But the overall gravity of their situation hit them once again.

"Wait...we gotta take care of Feld and save Tourmaline!" Tanza shouted.

"Right! Let's end this for real! Together!" Steven roared out with his fist held up in the air.

"You don't have to worry about the former." A deep voice stated.

The group looked back to see a dark green and red gem staring them immediately went on their guard.

"Who're you!?" Jasper yelled.

"I'm an ally." Bloodstone said.

"How can we trust you?" Pearl asked.

"The little ones are still alive aren't they?" She brought up.

The gems looked down to Steven and back to Bloodstone.

"I'd say it's best we hurry. If what you're saying is true, I'd rather not be scraping up his shards." The bulky gem said.

With that the group charged out of the prison wing. Bloodstone watched as they rushed ahead and slowly walked behind them with a content smile on her face.

"So these are the kind of gems that exist in this era...how interesting." She thought.

/**/

Tourmaline leaped back as Pyrite stomped down hard, crushing dirt and stone under her foot. She attempted to bat him away with her arm but the agile gem rolled to the side of her. He got up with a spin kick, slicing into her leg causing another spray to emerge. Once he made his full turn, he was greeted by an open palm and a silver ball. Pyrite fired it at point blank range and the much smaller gem was launched backwards by the blast. He slid across the barren plain, his torso and neck burned by the blast. He looked up to see the titanic gem leaping at him, fists raised behind her head. He rolled forward, ran a bit and slid underneath her. The great gem unleashed a massive blast of energy as she landed. He turned to see a great cloud of dust and smoke, and then her charging out of it.

Tourmaline felt his vision start to go blurry. He was using a lot of energy on maintaining his form alone, whereas Pyrite seemed to be somewhat fine despite her bleeding in various areas of her body. The tan green powered through the pain and ran towards his opponent. Pyrite held her hand out and fired a flurry of energy balls. Tourmaline leaped, ducked and rolled to avoid the attacks. He made it to her form and leaped up. The blades on his shoes sliding down to the soles as he scaled her mass with a few powerful kicks. He ended his ascension with a flip kick, slashing through her chest and a bit of her neck. As he flew backwards, he noticed her fist hurtling towards him once again. He shielded his head with his arms and tucked himself into a ball. The blow collided with his shin guards, completely shattering them. Before he was sent flying, she opened her palm up to reveal a black ball of energy. His form crumbled, and the ball was launched into his stomach. The dark mass carried him into the air and detonated, a void of black energy encompassing him.

Azurite cringed at the vicious attack.

"Oh shit...is he dead?" She thought.

A few seconds had passed with the void still in the air. To her surprise, Tourmaline slipped out of the black mass, his entire torso burnt, his shirt now gone and a dead expression on his face. He fell to the ground with a thud and didn't move.

"Okay good." The blue green gem released her wrappings from her gauntlet. Green Diamond's gemstone was practically burning in her other hand now. "Just gotta go in and out really fast. The giant oaf won't know what happened.".

Tourmaline laid up and stared at the clouds with a stunned look on his face. He couldn't tell if it was from the intense energy storm from Pyrite's attack, or the punch that did more damage to him. His shin guards were gone, leaving his gems exposed for all to see. Strangely enough, he felt no pain despite knowing he was injured. His mind which was racing with all sorts of thoughts was now clear. He felt warm. He rocked his body back up and he nearly fell back down again, stopping himself with his right foot. His head hung low as this sensation slowly took over his body.

Pyrite walked up to the stunned boy and smiled.

"I'm done here, it's time for you to die." She declared.

Azurite sneaked towards the two gems, gearing for her moment to strike. Pyrite opened her hand to reveal another black ball of energy. She thrust her arm forward, palm first at Tourmaline's head. Azurite dashed forward, her wrappings aimed to grab Tourmaline out of the way. All of this stimuli around the boy and he was unresponsive. Then, he felt a twinge throughout his entire body. His leg immediately shot upwards and moved Pyrite's hand out of the way with a swift kick. The other two gems were stunned by this act as the black ball of energy flew off. Tourmaline's dead expression turned into an incredibly violent and angry one. His eyes were pools of emerald.

"What!? But you were-" Pyrite stammered.

A giant surge of green energy erupted from his gems and scars. He lowered his leg and immediately swung it in a one-hundred and eighty degree arc towards Pyrite's hand. His blade sunk in between her index and middle finger, slicing through her thick flesh. Pyrite screamed out in agony as her finger and thumb fell to the ground, fading out of existence.

Azurite stood there, stunned by the sudden surge of power.

"I...what the heck?" She said out loud.

Tourmaline roared out loudly as the energy leaking out of him cracked and sparked all around him. It was even bursting out of his mouth. He crouched down and leaped upwards, slamming his knee into Pyrite's chest. The giant gem felt something cracking as she skidded backwards from the attack. The possessed Tourmaline then flipped forward, his burning leg swinging down on Pyrite like a guillotine. His bladed ankle tore through her shoulder and breast, causing a fountain of blood to burst from the open wound.

"You little fucking shit! I'll grind you to dust!" She screamed out as she grabbed Tourmaline.

He thrashed and writhed in her hand as Pyrite charged up another ball of energy. Tourmaline arched his head back and swung it towards Pyrite's exposed wrist, jaws wide open. He bit into her and twisted his head a bit, slightly tearing at her arm. She faltered and loosened her grip on the wild gem, more blood leaking from the mangled area. Tourmaline shifted his body in her loose grip and brought his legs back up to his chest.

"Piece of cra-" Pyrite shouted, before being silence from a massive burst of energy from Tourmaline's drop kick.

She let go of Tourmaline, her face now smoking and one of her eyes singed shut. Tourmaline leaped back some tens of feet and rushed towards her at insane speed, becoming like a green ball of lighting. He jumped up and dropkicked her stomach, the blades piercing her belly. He pressed off of her, releasing a large amount of energy inside of her. Pyrite spat up blood as she skidded back towards the ravine's edge. She stopped right at the edge, blood leaking from her mouth and the two slits in her stomach now giant holes due to the blasts.

"I won't die so easily to scum like you!" She declared as she started chucking energy balls at an insane rate.

The air was filled with black and silver bullets. The bombs tore apart earth with mighty, shining blasts, but none of them managed to hit their mark. She saw Tourmaline leaping towards her, and her heart sunk into her stomach.

"Get...get away from me you freak!" She yelled out as she clapped her hands together in an attempt to crush him.

The loud boom from her hands colliding was almost as loud as her blasts. But to her horror, she didn't hit Tourmaline, and he was right in front of her. He sprung up and slammed his head into her teeth. She was lifted up by the attack and sent flying back into the ravine along with freed teeth.

The freed gems rushed out of the cave entrance and looked up in horror to see a gem flying backwards and falling towards them.

"Tourmaline!" Tanza called out.

"Good he's at least in his form still...and a lot bigger than I remember." Obsidian stated.

"That's not Tourmaline!" Steven shouted.

Tourmaline rolled onto the edge of the cliffside, holding himself up with his bladed shoes. He stared the falling gem down and with a mighty shout and a green explosion he shot at Pyrite like a bullet, demolishing the section he had planted himself on. He tackled Pyrite like a quartz, sending them both flying towards the top of the cave entrance. As they tore through the rock, the ceiling of the cave gave way and collapsed, sealing the tunnel off.

"Tourmaline!?" Garnet said stunned.

Azurite snuck around the other gems with her teleportation and made it back to the battlefield in front of Feldspar's former base.

"Thank goodness they were distracted...and the whole tunnel didn't collapse at once." She thought to herself.

Just then Tourmaline and Pyrite appeared from the stone. The green gem slammed Pyrite into what remained of Carnelian's ship, completely destroying the wreckage. The giant gem bounced off the jagged rocks and managed to get back on her feet, with Tourmaline right in front of her. She stretched her arms backwards, he raised his leg, and then a flurry of punches and kicks echoed throughout the cave. Loud booms like mighty thunderclaps came at an immense rate, their blows a blur of mighty wind. Black Opal, Tsavorite, Bloodstone and Azurite watched stunned at the magnificent display of power. The very ground trembled underneath their feet, rock cracking and water churning like a stormy sea around them.

"Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die!" Pyrite screamed out as she continued to punch him, only to have her attacks nullified by his kicks.

Her clenched fists were glowing, and the mighty gem finally moved to the side and grabbed the boy by the arm with her teeth. She tossed him towards the ceiling like a wild animal, sending Tourmaline hurtling towards it. He flipped out of his dazed state, his body burning up with energy to the point of it tearing through his skin. He jumped back towards her with all of his strength, moving his legs back down, placing them together with his blades pointing downwards. He spun like a top towards his opponent, becoming a drill of pure green energy.

Pyrite locked her fingers together and created a giant ball of black energy. But before she could release it, Tourmaline was already upon her. Black and green energy sprayed in all directions as the two gems struggled to gain the upperhand in this final gambit of life or death. Both of them roared out as loud as they could, Pyrite slowly pushing Tourmaline back. Suddenly, the black energy disappeared, along with the green energy with a loud boom. Tourmaline was behind Pyrite, rolling forward and knocking into rocks along the way. Pyrite was completely still. The boy finally stopped himself, panting heavily as the green energy faded from his body. He was burnt, cut, bruised and exhausted. He got to his feet and looked at his foe. As he looked up her massive legs, he saw a giant hole in her torso, and through that hole he could see the giant hole in which he pierced through her hands. Pyrite fell over, and then poofed into nothingness. Tourmaline chuckled as he started to walk towards her gems. The remaining audience was stunned. None of them could talk, none of them could move. The display of raw power was too intense for them to take in.

Tourmaline continued to laugh louder and louder as he approached the gems. He finally was upon them, grabbing Onyx's stone in one hand and Sillimantite's stone. He took them in both hands and stared squeezing them tightly, now guffawing manically. Squeezing them tighter, he could feel them ready to crack at any instant. However he stopped laughing when he saw his reflection in the stone. His mind went blank, he felt ashamed, he realized just how low he had fallen with this. His expression was just like hers.

Azurite started moving towards Tourmaline slowly.

"Hey...are you alright?" She asked.

The tan green gem looked over to her, but then was drawn back to the gems as they floated out of his hands. Silver and white light attempted to form a human body, but it started to contort and shift into a jello like mass. The two stones started to fuse on their own, a crystal vein soldering them together. Two giant arms stretched out from the orb, the hands stretching into thick claws. Her shot out from behind her, positioned like a runner at a starting line. The body formed into a giant, lizard like shape, thick like a crocodile with spikes running across her back in three titanic rows. Finally, her head formed into a large, dinosaur like skull. One eye was on her snout while the others were on the sides of her head. Black, scaly skin with silver markings covered her muscular form. Changed and corrupted, all she could think of now was killing.

Tourmaline turned to Azurite with a desperate expression on his face.

"Run!" He shouted.

The giant monster roared out and slashed at Tourmaline. Azurite leaped into action and ran to help Tourmaline. Bloodstone and Tsavorite also leaped of the base to assist their comrade.

"Don't come near me! I'm what she wants!" He called out.

"Don't be stupid, you'll get killed!" Tsavorite yelled.

The giant beast looked at the two gems and opened it's jaws wide. The size of her agape mouth was as big as her original form was. From her gullet, a stream of black and silver energy came flowing out like a firehose. The two gems managed to leap out of the way, but the beam tore through a good portion of the base, creating a massive hole all the way through it. Tourmaline couldn't do anything to get it's attention other than shout at it. He was completely spent. All he could do was buy time for the others to arrive. Luckily when the beast was after Tourmaline, it tried to swipe at him with it's claws or tried to bite down on him with it's titanic jaws. The beast wanted him to die slowly.

"Guess a part of Pyrite is still ticking if she wants to get a hold of me this much." He thought.

As he danced around the monster, Azurite met up with the other three gems.

"We gotta help him." The blue green gem said firmly.

"You're right. It's time to form Variscite." Tsavorite stated.

The three gems were about to start the fusion dance, but Bloodstone got a glimpse of Green Diamond's stone shining brighter than it had ever shone before.

"What's with her stone?" She asked.

"I don't know it's been like this all day!" Azurite answered.

For some reason, the stone started to feel lighter, her grip felt looser though she was gripping it with the same strength as before.

Tourmaline continued to run from the beast, but their attention was caught by the sound of rocks being blown apart. They looked in the area of the blast to see the other gems emerging from the previously sealed off tunnel. They all were surprised and confused by the giant beast's now gaping maw. Tourmaline looked at his friends and family with great fear. The blast came forward, but Steven leaped in front of the other gems. His gem shone brightly and a giant pink shield came forth. The blast was still happening, and the great shield was being pushed backwards. Steven could barely keep it up, the blast was too intense. But soon the attack was becoming a little less relentless. The gems thought that it was because the beam was ending, but as the silver and black energy rose up, it was revealed that Tourmaline was lifting the monster's head up from underneath its chin.

"There's no way I can win...I know that much but...I can still save them!" He screamed out, "It's not about me winning or you losing, it's about making sure that all of them are alive and well!".

Steven dropped his shield and the blast tore through the rock around them as the others quickly rushed to assist him. They all cried his name as they charged forward, weapons in hand. The monster crawled back, it's hand read to strike him. Tourmaline couldn't move his legs. He arched his fist back and threw it towards the giant claw.

"I won't die...I can't die...everyone needs me...I need to be with them! I'll never die, I'll protect them forever!" He screamed in his head.

His arm was crushed by the overwhelming force of the attack. He was slammed by the palm, rolled up the beasts fingers and the large claws nearly tore him into five separate pieces. The other gems stared in horror as his lifeless body fell down to the ground. Amazingly, he was still conscious during this, but just barely. He fell for what felt like hours, expecting to slam hard on the jagged rock and poof away. But instead, he was caught by someone's arm. He slid off of it and to his feet, still supported by whoever caught him. Judging from their height, it could've been Tanza, Garnet, or even Pegmatite. He looked over to see a completely different gem. Everyone, even the corrupted Pyrite stared at her magnificence.

She stood taller than Pegmatite, with flat, sharp edged long hair that ended in two long, tie like locks that draped over her bosom. She wore a regal emerald blouse with the sleeves cut mid bicep, her pants a seafoam green with streaks of lime going down the sides of each leg, and a dark green chain that circled her neck, attaching to the border of an opening in the chest area of her blouse which revealed her diamond gemstone. She was the most beautiful gem he had laid eyes on, each feature of her face was perfect. She smiled down upon him, gazing right through him with fern green eyes, her iris shaped in horizontal rhombus.

"You were incredible Tourmaline." She spoke in a brash young woman's voice, "Perfect fight!".

Azurite, Tsavorite and Bloodstone were stunned by the sight. In the midst of the chaos, their diamond's gem snuck away and regenerated like it was nothing. Though her appearance had mildly changed, they all saw her for what she was: their lord and mistress. The other gems stared on, puzzled by the mysterious stranger.

"It...it can't be. Is that her...Green Diamond?" Jasper asked.

"What? Green...diamond? That's ridiculous! Everyone knows that there have only been four diamonds cataloged in all of our history!" Peridot claimed.

The others ignored her and continued to stare on.

Tourmaline continued looking up at his mistress with wide eyes.

"How do you know me...how did you see the fight?" He asked.

She chuckled.

"Even in my gem I could hear your stories. Even from afar I could feel your energy clashing with hers. You really are something special Tourmaline, and I thank you for reviving me." Green Diamond said warmly.

The great gem looked over to see her three elites. They were all on the verge of tears when she smiled upon them. The matriarch's hand slid down Tourmaline's back and she gripped his shoulder.

"Now…" She then threw the young gem towards the others with a mighty toss, "...get out of my way!".

Tourmaline flew through the air, yelling out until being caught by Bloodstone. All eyes were on her, and the beast charged towards her.

"Mistress!" Tsavorite called out.

Green Diamond turned to face the giant beast, but the three clawed hand of the monster was already upon her. One claw hit her forehead while the other two hit her shoulders. There was silence as the great diamond was motionless. She then reached up and tore the tip of the creature's claw from her forehead, a small trickle of juniper green blood flowed from the wound.

"How impressive...you managed to break some skin." She applauded.

Terrified by its prey's reaction, Pyrite leaped back, jaws wide open and it fired another beam of energy. Green Diamond extended her arm forward and gripped the blast with her bare hand. The intensity of the blast caused a tremendous gust of wind to emanate from it, blowing water in every which direction. But rather than struggle with the attack, Green Diamond felt nothing. Tourmaline gazed closer at her hand to see that the energy that touched it was going into her palm and upper arm. She was absorbing that tremendous beam as if it were a squirt gun firing at a sponge. Her gem started to glow and a small ball of light emerged from it. It seemed as though she were manipulating where it went with her other arm. She changed it to a mace, then an axe, then a spear, before finally settling with the ball itself. It started to ripple with energy as Pyrite's attack faded out.

"Stupid thing, let me show you how it's really done!" She shouted.

The mighty diamond thrust her hand forward and released the ball of energy. It then expanded to a size as big as the base and engulfed the gargantuan creature. The ball carried Pyrite all the way to the cave wall, eating it's way through the stone before detonation. A bright white flash and a deafening explosion echoed throughout the the cave. When it faded out, all other gems looked to see the huge indentation of the wall. The cave itself tripled in size thanks to the blast. Each gem gazed in awe at the massive crater while Green Diamond slowly walked towards her squad. She looked up to see Black Opal looking from the main deck of the base. She leaped up and into the broken window to meet her.

"My...diamond?" Black Opal responded.

"I heard of your proposition and I'm interested. But first, I want to be away from this crowd. I have to have some time with my elites. I bet they've been so lonely all these years." She said.

The dark gem nodded and started working at the control panel. The great base sprung to life with a giant whirring noise. The top of the base opened up and fired a massive laser, cutting through the cave's ceiling and creating an opening for escape. Sunlight shone through the new skylight and Green Diamond peeked up at the newly made hole through the broken window.

"Very impressive! And efficient." She then looked down at the four green gems, "Alright, time to say good-bye for now! Come on up my perfects!".

Azurite, Bloodstone and Tsavorite leaped up to be with their master, but Tourmaline hesitated. The others rushed over to get to him, but he held his hand up in protest. They all stopped, save for Steven. The young boy reached him with a sad expression on his face.

"You...you gotta go with her don't you?" He asked.

Tourmaline nodded.

"This mean...you're gone forever?".

"No." He promised, "I just have a lot of work and catching up to do.".

He ruffled the young boy's hair and looked on at the sad or stoic expressions of the others. He could see tears in Tanza and Taz's eyes. He wanted to run over to them, to hug them and let them know that he would be right back before they knew it, but if he did that...he wouldn't want to let go. He waved good-bye and leaped up to the ship's window. Green Diamond hoisted the gem inside and the entire base started to rocket upwards. The exhaust covered the other gems as the large base flew into the sky. As the dust settled, Steven was standing in front of the group with bitter sweet tears in his eyes.

"He said he'd back soon. He just has a lot of work and catching up to do." He relayed.

A few of the gems had tears in their eyes, some were still sad, while others had smiles on their faces.

"Well...since he has his own work to do, we should get to work sorting out our own mess." Carnelian stated.

Garnet nodded in agreement.

"Let's go back to the temple." She stated.

Up in the base, Green Diamond and her troupe stared down at the various sights of Earth. Tourmaline tried to stand up for as long as he could, but he slumped over and finally poofed. The others looked down and smiled.

"Let the kid rest. I got a lot to discuss with him when he gets up.


End file.
